Carl P. Wilson, Bank Shooting, Illinois 2014

Carl P. Wilson, 28, of Joliet, Illinois, is headed to federal prison for 29 years after opening fire on a bank teller and customer during a brazen daylight heist at First Midwest Bank in Orland Park. On October 13, 2014, Wilson, armed with a black semi-automatic handgun, stormed the branch at 11200 W. 143rd St., jumped the teller counter, and screamed, “Give me the [expletic] money!” before discharging his weapon—narrowly missing both victims.

Wilson fled with $20,000 in cash, waving his gun in the air as he taunted employees with, “Have a great [expletic] day!” The incident was captured on surveillance video and later used as key evidence in the investigation. Just nine days after the robbery, Wilson was arrested during a traffic stop in Joliet. Authorities linked him to the crime through forensic evidence and witness accounts.

The sentencing, handed down Thursday by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin in Chicago, followed Wilson’s guilty pleas to one count of armed bank robbery, one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charges reflect the severity of a crime that federal prosecutors called exceptionally dangerous and driven by pure greed.

Wilson’s criminal spree didn’t end in Orland Park. He admitted to robbing another First Midwest Bank branch in Bolingbrook on August 11, 2014—where he fired within seconds of entering and struck a teller in the arm. That act of violence set the stage for an escalating pattern of armed aggression, culminating in the near-fatal shots fired in Orland Park.

At the federal hearing, the Bolingbrook victim and multiple witnesses from the Orland Park robbery delivered emotional testimony detailing the trauma of being targeted at close range. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ankur Srivastava, who represented the government, emphasized in the sentencing memo: “Defendant’s crime was violent, motivated by greed, and put lives in danger.”

The case was jointly announced by Zachary T. Fardon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Office. The Joliet Police Department provided critical investigative support. Wilson now faces decades behind bars with no room for appeal on the firearm charges that sealed his fate.