“I need to call my mom,” are the six words Nils Graham recalls he heard the perpetrator of a recent armed incident at a local bank say repeatedly before authorities swarmed the building.
Graham, 85, who said he’s lived locally for 10 years and owns property in Southwest Florida since the 1960s, explained he heard Sterling Ramon Alavache, 36, repeat the words at least three times before an employee from Bank of America at Bell Tower, 13099 U.S. 41 S.E., approached and asked him to leave.
As he said he needed to call his mother, according to Graham, Alavache attempted to plug his cellphone into a nearby electrical outlet.
Alavache, roughly 8 feet from Graham, according to his witness account, walked in a 3-square-foot area in loops repeating the phrase, Graham said. A manager walked Alavanche out and warned him the bank would call authorities.
Soon after, Alavache returned to the Bank of America and said he had a bomb, prompting five patrons in the lobby to walk out. Graham said he escorted another patron out.