440.29 | Kenzie Bank Takeover Robbery

[Kiara O'ren]

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Overview/Mission Name

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Name: Kiara O'ren
Rank: Jedi Master
Date(s): 440.29
Location: Financial District, Kenzie, Rannon
Members of the Jedi Order present: Kiara O'ren, Tarsi Morga

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Public Information
A group of armed suspects conducted a takeover robbery of a bank in the financial district of Kenzie, Rannon. After an approximately six hours, Rannon Security Forces, aided by the Jedi Order, were able to bring the stand-off to a peaceable conclusion. All of the suspects were taken into custody and only one of the employees suffered minor injuries. They were transported to a medical center in Kenzie as a precaution.

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Level of Exposure: Planet

Related Events

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Potential: N/A
Confirmed: N/A

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Narrative

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On 440.29, at approximately 1552 hours GST, I received a communication from Jedi Knight Minoda Darkrider, who was away from the Praxeum. Master Darkrider told me he had received an urgent request for assistance from the Rannon Security Forces (RSF) garrison, stationed in Kenzie. The RSF was requesting a Jedi Negotiator to aid in resolving a hostage situation and had sent a pilot to the Jedi Praxeum to escort the assigned Jedi to the area.

Due to the urgency of the request, I elected not to delegate the response to another Jedi. I contacted my Padawan, Tarsi Morga, and instructed him to meet me in the Praxeum's hangar bay. Tarsi joined me and we met with the RSF pilot. The pilot did not have any additional information on the developing situation, but flew us to a landing pad in the financial district of Kenzie.

Upon arrival, I saw there appeared to be a heavy presence of RSF officers and technicians forming a perimeter around one of the district's financial institutions. A semi-circle of barricades around the front entrance was manned by at least eight officers. As Tarsi and I approached, we could see that they appeared to be on edge and had their rifles pointed at the front door to the bank.

As we approached, we were stopped by one of the officers, who appeared to be in charge of the operation. He instructed us to leave the area for our own safety. I identified myself, and my Padawan, as members of the Jedi Order and confirmed with him that he needed our help. He identified himself as RSF Officer Varga and stated that at least three armed suspects had become barricaded inside the bank after a robbery gone wrong.

Additionally, Officer Varga stated that they believed eight individuals may be held hostage inside. Officer Varga said that four of the hostages were employees of the bank, a manager and three clerks. The remaining four were possibly customers who happened to be present when the robbery occurred.

The bank appeared to have an external blast door covering its usual entrance. As we arrived, one of the RSF technicians was attempting to remotely slice into the door to open it. I advised him to continue his efforts, but keep the door closed until necessary to avoid provoking the trapped suspects. The technician was also able to disable the bank's exterior surveillance systems to prevent the possibility for the suspects to monitor our movements. Officer Varga advised me that the front door was the only entrance to the structure. However, he also mentioned there was a secured vent on the roof. The vent could possibly be cut into, but doing so would alert the occupants of the building and it was unlikely that anyone of normal size could gain access through the air circulation shafts.

Tarsi and I then approached the blast door in attempt to open negotiations with whoever was inside. While walking toward the door, I took a moment to draw upon the Force to extend my senses within the building. I sensed no imminent danger to those inside nor any reason to rush to action. I sense a good amount of fear from both those that had been taken hostage as well as the suspects themselves. A man inside seemed to become aware of our presence and demanded to know why we were there. I once again identified ourselves. At this, the sense of fear I detected earlier grew. At this, I assured him I was there to help. He asked me if he was going to die, and I told him I could only guarantee his safety if he complied with us.

I took an extended period of time to build a rapport with the male behind the door, learn what happened from his perspective, and assure him that we were only there to help. The male identified himself as Rylan, later identified as Rylan Reeves by the RSF technician, who had researched the name through local security force databases. Rylan had stated that they had attempted to perform a quick, "in and out" robbery, but one of the bank employees had triggered the alarm. Rylan referred to his accomplices as his brothers, and it was later determined they were actually siblings. My conversation lead me to believe that this criminal act was one of desperation and was neither extensively planned nor coldly calculated.

Rylan stated that the bank manager had been accidentally injured during the initial robbery. Rylan agreed to discuss potentially releasing the bank manager so he could seek medical attention and as a show of good faith that he, and his brothers, did not wish to hurt anyone. I agreed and coordinated this with him. I returned to the line of RSF officers and informed them of the plan, and they were aligned with it. I informed them that I had sensed more than the original estimate of three suspects, inside the building, and told them to not take any action during the first hostage release. They acknowledged this suggestion.

The RSF personnel then told me they had identified Rylan as Rylan Reeves, a former resident of the planet. They had determined a possible motive for the robbery. Rylan's sister, Mira Reeves, was ill and had incurred significant debts due to her repeated bacta treatments. This reinforced the idea that the robbery was desperate measure rather than a selfish, criminal act.

I proposed that, since we would likely be receiving an injured hostage, we immediately transport him to a nearby medical center. I proposed that we use the sound of the approaching medical transport's engines and sirens to have Tarsi cut open the rooftop air vent, so we could have the option to investigate whether a deployable droid, non-lethal force option, or possibly even Tarsi could be moved through the vent. Officer Varga agreed.

A short while later, the bank manager was released. He appeared to have minor, non-life threatening injuries, and was transported to a nearby medical center as a precaution. An RSF officer was sent to the medical center to interview the bank manager to gain additional information about the suspects. During the medical transport's presence, Tarsi was able to gain access to the ventilation shaft on the roof and likely determined that, due to his size and unique flexibility, could likely gain access to the building if needed. Accessing the vent did not appear to alert the occupants of the bank.

Officer Varga stated they were in possession of some non-lethal gas that could now be deployed through the opening rooftop vent. The gas was fast acting and should subject all humanoids in the building to unconsciousness. However, there was a concern that the building's fire suppression system would nullify the effects. The RSF technician attempted to remotely disable the building's fire suppression system, but the damage the suspects did to the bank's interior surveillance system made it impossible.

I directed Tarsi to enter the bank via the rooftop vent and attempt to shut down the fire suppression system. Upon success, Tarsi would send me a short, wordless transmission via his commlink. Tarsi succeeded in this task. See his report for further details.

I re-approached the building to speak with Rylan again, in order to maintain an open line of communication and to direct attention away from Tarsi's access of the building. Rylan initially became angry when I informed him of the RSF's background check and me bringing up his sister, but I managed to calm him down by empathizing with him and telling him that the information made it clear he wasn't a heartless criminal. Rylan told me that he, and his brothers, would surrender peacefully if 50,000 credits were transferred into account number #709-327-11-RGO. At some point during this conversation, I received a signal from Tarsi to indicate he had successfully disabled the building's fire suppression system.

I began to discuss the possibility of Rylan releasing the customers, who were in the bank at the time of the robbery. However, I heard Rylan exclaim something and hurry away from the door. It seemed that Tarsi had been discovered and was in imminent danger. Due to this, and the possibility of hostages being injured if immediate action was not taken, I directed Officer Varga to deploy the non-lethal gas inside the structure.

The gas was deployed inside the bank and, after a short interval, Officer Varga informed me that, if the gas was effective, all those occupying the building should have been rendered unconscious. I reached out with the Force once more and confirmed this.

The RSF technician remotely opened the structure's blast door and we opened the building. After waiting for the gas to dissipate, we entered the building. All of the occupants were unconscious, including Tarsi. I picked Tarsi up and moved him out of the building while the RSF Officers placed all of the suspects in custody. It was quickly discovered that Rylan and his brothers were not armed with real blasters, but plastoid replicas.

The Reeves brothers were moved outside of the building and secured in binders, they were left in the custody of the RSF.

It was confirmed that the motivation behind the robbery was to pay the balance of the medical bills for Mira Reeves. It is my recommendation that the judicial system of Rannon take into account the following mitigating factors; the robbery was not performed out of malicious intent, no one was seriously injured in the incident, the Reeves brothers barricaded themselves out of initial fear but, when contacted, were readily compliant with all requests for releasing hostages.

[Tarsi Morga]

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Overview/Mission Name

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Name: Tarsi Morga
Rank: Padawan
Date(s): 440.29
Location: The Township of Kenzie
Members of the Jedi Order present: Master Kiara O'ren, Padawan Tarsi Morga

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Public Information

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Level of Exposure: Planet

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Related Events

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Potential: There are none.
Confirmed: There are none.

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Summary and Actions
As the sun fell in the twilight hours on this day, I was called for by Master O'ren. We were taken by shuttle to Kenzie where the financial centre was under siege by the RSF. Inside: Three men, the brothers Reeves, had taken hostages and had not yet made their demands known. It was believed that they had attempted a robbery, and had become trapped by the lockdown when the manager had screamed the panic alarm.

And so we listened to the situation from the presiding Officer Varga, and listened to the advice then of the tech officer that all interior holocameras had been destroyed. It was then that Master O'ren advised this man of the ticking things to shut down too the exterior cameras, so our actions could not be seen from inside.

And after some debating the course of our actions we climbed that ramp to the sealed doors and Master O'ren began to ingratiate herself to the voice of these brothers, who identified himself as Rylan. And so she did do so, and secured the release of the bank manager who was accidentally injured in the struggle.

And as this hostage was exchanged, a distraction of sirens was thrown over eyes and ears of the brothers which allowed me to cut through vent on roof with plasma torch. Once the vent was pried free, I returned to the barricade where the officers awaited. In that time, it was learned that the brothers did this thing for their sister. They had accrued much debt in medical bills, and could no longer afford the medicine by which she kept her health. They were worried for her wellbeing, and saw no other option. Though this is meant to be in truth impartial imparting of the events, here I must allow my heart to be shown. I did feel sympathy for this reasoning, and it is my true belief these men are not bad, but desperate. This does not make what they have done right, but it does show that their intentions were pure. This is why I believe there was never an intention of physical harm.

But it is that even the tooka bites when it is cornered, and so it was decided not to risk the hostages through a storming of the bank, or risk the breaking of the wave of temper and tension through elongated negotiation. The fire suppression system was impossible to deactivate remotely, since remote systems were damaged along with cameras. And so I did volunteer to come through those mazes in the vents to find a way to do so inside.

And I did do so, but then the depressurization of the foam tanks did make a loud sound, and I was discovered there in the vault. Gas was deployed and we all fell into deep torpor. I do not know what happened between then and my waking.

Finally, the promise was upheld to help Rylan Reeves and his sister. The promise as made and kept there before him and his brothers, and so we did take his account details and have since set up a fundraiser which I have sent word of to my family on Maya Kovel.

Then those men were taken by the RSF. It was a bitter thing to see, but there can be no other outcome for such steps taken by the brothers. I did hear later the weapons were not weapons at all, but useless things made to look so. I have much to say how I feel about this, but this is not the place to do so, no.[/b]