HOLLY HILL – Authorities are looking for four masked men who robbed the Farmers & Merchants Bank of South Carolina’s main office in Holly Hill shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday.

An unspecified amount of cash was taken, but no one was injured during the heist, officials reported.

Denise M. Taiste, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Columbia office, said the Farmers & Merchant Bank at 8624 Old State Rd. was robbed at 10:59 a.m. by four Africian-American males. The only descriptions the FBI provided of the suspects were that one of the men was wearing a red baseball cap, one was carrying an automatic Glock pistol and one was armed with a silver revolver. Holly Hill Police Chief Robert Wunderlich, however, reported that all four of the suspects were armed.

Taiste said the suspects left the bank in a light gold Dodge Stratus, with slightly tinted windows, traveling on Highway 453 in the direction of Interstate 26.

Wunderlich said all of the suspects were wearing latex gloves and one of them dropped his gloves, which were recovered by police as evidence.

The police chief said die-packs that were placed in the bank’s cash drawer to help thwart robbers getting away with money detonated at some point, prompting the bandits to dispose of some of the stolen cash on Gardner Boulevard. That money was recovered by police, Wunderlich said.

According to Charles D. “Buddy” Paramore Jr., branch manager of Holly Hill’s Farmers & Merchant Bank, the suspects were in the bank for just a couple of minutes and approached two of the bank’s tellers demanding money.

“It was all very quick,” Paramore said.

He said the suspects entered the bank through the front entrance on Old State Road and exited the same way.

Officials from the FBI, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office and the Holly Hill Police Department responded to the scene quickly, Paramore said.

A total of six customers were in the bank during the robbery, he said.

Paramore, who has worked at the bank for 21 years, said Thursday morning’s holdup was the Holly Hill bank’s only robbery in more than two decades.

He said bank officials had not yet determined the amount of cash taken during the robbery.

Larry W. Shuler, 67, of Providence, was standing in line to cash a check when the suspects entered the bank.

Shuler said at least two of the suspects brandished guns: a black .45-caliber automatic pistol and a nickel-plated, “western-style” revolver.

Shuler, who is a retired banker, said he never experienced a bank robbery during his 43 years in banking. But that all changed Thursday.

He said the man armed with the nickel-plated revolver walked behind the teller station, grabbed cash and then jumped over the counter while another suspect hollered, “Did you get it?” and “Hurry up!”

He described the men as wearing stocking caps, with a bandana or cloth covering the lower portions of their faces, and dark glasses.

“All I wanted to do was cash a check,” Shuler said.

Another witness, Tom Whetsell, 66, of Vance, said he was in the bank during the robbery but did not see much of the incident as his back was turned toward the lobby.

Whetsell said the men wore long-sleeved shirts, hoods and masks.

While the bank closed early Thursday because of the robbery, Paramore said the drive-thru services remained open for business.

Investigators from the OCSO’s Criminal Investigations Unit were at the scene collecting evidence and conducting interviews with witnesses and bank employees for several hours Thursday.

Wunderlich said the Holly Hill Police Department and the State Law Enforcement Division are handling the investigation.

Farmers & Merchants Bank of South Carolina operates seven branches.

T&D Correspondent Martha Rose Brown can be reached by e-mail at marfawose@aol.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

T&D Correspondent Martha Rose Brown can be reached by e-mail at marfawose@aol.com.

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