Man tries shooting trooper during bank robbery arrest, but gun doesn’t fire, feds say

A man described as a “serial bank robber” tried to shoot and kill a Pennsylvania trooper during his most recent robbery arrest, federal officials say. Now he has been sentenced to prison.

Authorities say Christopher Larue, 44, of Lansdale, robbed QNB Bank in Perkasie, about 12 miles north of his hometown, early Oct. 19, 2020.

While robbing the bank, authorities say Larue took employees’ phones, ordered them into a vault that he made them unlock and emptied two teller drawers of cash. He also forced workers to open the teller windows by revealing a handgun and saying “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

One of the employees unlocked the drawers, according to court records, and “demanded to know whether the money contained any dye packs, and the male employee eventually said, ‘No.’”

The money did contain GPS tracking devices, though.

Before leaving, officials say Larue tried to close the vault with the workers inside, but he was unable to shut it all the way. As soon as he left, the workers set off alarms.

The defense attorney representing Larue did not provide a statement to McClatchy News.

Pennsylvania State Police responded to the call and were able to track Larue, where troopers found him in the locker area of a recycling center where he worked.

He “appeared extremely nervous — he inhaled quickly and his lip was quivering,” according to court records.

One trooper tried to capture Larue by grabbing his left wrist, when Larue asked “What’s this about,” officials said. The arresting trooper said words along the line of “It’s no big deal, I just want to secure you for a minute.”

Larue continued resisting, and the trooper asked a manager at the recycling center to call more troopers into the locker room, according to court records.

As the trooper attempted to turn Larue toward a wall so he could handcuff him, officials say Larue pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the trooper’s head and asked “Do you want to ------- die today?”

Larue repeatedly pulled the trigger, officials said.

“It was very nearly a tragedy, but thankfully the weapon didn’t fire,” said Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, in a March 23 news release.

The trooper then put the man into a choke hold, but Larue “began racking the slide of the gun in an effort to chamber a round from the magazine, which was loaded,” records say. The trooper tackled Larue to the ground, and other troopers helped grab the gun and handcuff him.

“An FBI firearms examiner examined the firearm and determined that it was operable and designed to fire a projectile by means of an explosive,” officials said.

Police say they found $11,327 in stolen money, ammo and the clothes Larue wore during the robbery near his locker.

Larue was sentenced to 25 years and one day in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release as part of a plea deal, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He pleaded guilty to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of armed bank robbery in October of last year.

“The defendant acted with complete disregard and callousness for the lives of the Pennsylvania State Troopers and the bank employees whom he threatened with a firearm,” U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said in the release.

“But for a mis-fired gun, the outcome could have been yet another tragic loss of life.”

Lansdale is about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia.