Man tries to rob two banks in Tbilisi, commits suicide

A man committed a suicide after trying to rob two banks in central Tbilisi on 12 September, Georgia’s Interior Ministry has confirmed to OC Media after a preliminary investigation.

The man tried to rob a branch of TBC Bank on Tsereteli Avenue at around 14:00 but fled after the alarm went off.

By 17:00, he arrived at a service centre of Bank of Georgia on the same street, and forced a security officer to open the door by threatening him with a pistol.

According to InterPressNews, the security officer briefly warned his colleagues of the attack, who quickly locked the second door and isolated the offender from the staff and clients.

The police arrived in less than two minutes after the security staff at Bank of Georgia pushed the alert button, the Interior Ministry told media. According to the Ministry, police officers offered him to surrender, but he shot himself in the head.

The Interior Ministry has not disclosed any details, including the man’s name or age. InterPressNews quoted a witness as saying the man lived on Tsereteli Avenue.

In 2016, the Interior Ministry and Georgian media reported at least ten cases of bank robbery. In the first eight months of 2017, at least three branches of Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank were robbed.