NEWS
Sunset area man jailed in bank robbery attempt
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
A 63-year-old Sunset area man was arrested Friday morning after he reportedly attempted to rob Wellington State Bank in Bowie.
Randall Baird Bryant was arrested on a complaint of aggravated robbery. Bowie Police Chief Guy Green said Friday afternoon the investigation is continuing and the charges could change.
Around 9:09 a.m. a silent panic alarm went off at Wellington Bank, 1301 State Highway 59N and police officers went to the bank. On arrival, they found people were outside waving and telling the cops the suspect got in a white Ford pickup and went south on Hwy. 59.
“We started saturating the area with law officers, then a bank employee said they saw him on Hwy. 59 again. While city police were processing the scene at the bank, sheriff’s deputies came in to help and they saw a similar vehicle on Lover’s Lane. They watched him drive into the Sanger Bank lot just across from Wellington and get out going toward the front door. The deputies approached him and he got back in his truck driving off. Officers were able to stop him at the city limits in the area of Hwy. 59 and Mill,” explained the chief.
Green continued that three deputies and police got him stopped and gunpoint and took him into custody. They retrieved the weapon from his waistband as he gave up. He noted it is unusual for a suspect to come back and remain in the same area of an offense.
Bank witnesses told police the suspect came into the bank and told them he was there to “rob this “f-ing” place.
“The staff did not really respond which lead him to walk around a bit picking up someone’s purse saying something like he would take this if they would not respond. He also raised up his hoodie and showed them the gun in his waistband. A customer came in the door, which appears to have spooked him, so he grabbed the bag he brought in and left,” said Green.
The chief added thanks to the cooperation between the PD and sheriff’s office they were able to bring in this suspect without incident, and he appreciated their assistance.
Bryant was being interviewed at the Bowie Police Department and expected to be transferred to county jail later in day.
Top Photo – Law officers walk the bank robbery suspect, Randall Bryant, after he was apprehended by police and sheriff’s deputies. (photo by Brent Shaw)
The Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on June 23.
The agenda includes both old and new business items.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his report on the 2026-27 budget process, bid opening for the Glenn Hills lift station on July 16 and the bid for Rock and Pillar repairs.
In new business a pair of planning and zoning committee recommendations for replats at 107 E. Nelson and 412 Green will be reviewed. An ordinance adopting an office of emergency management amending a present ordinance will be offered.
Old business will see the second reading of the pickleball court reservation fee ordinance and the ordinance prohibiting drilling and mining or the reopening of an abandoned well or mine in any public park in the city limits.
A HEAT ADVISORY will be in effect from noon until 9 p.m. today (Thursday). Please plan accordingly.
Hear Audio Alert:https://hrpow.us/oeFZANN
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas has confirmed human skeletal remains were recovered on June 13 in the Sunset area, and they could possibly be those of a flight attendant believed to have been murdered almost a year ago in the Fort Worth.
The murder suspect, Dennis William Day, 66, admitted in June 2025 to strangling Rana Soluri, 47, an Envoy flight attendant who lived with Day during that last year. She was reported missing by a co-worker on June 11 and had not been seen or heard from since March 2025.
Day initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to the murder and indicated he dumped her body somewhere in the Montague County area. Lawmen have scoured the areas in questions in both Montague and Wise County, but found nothing.
Sheriff Thomas said on June 13 the SO received a call of possible skeletal remains in the Brushy Creek area north of Poss Dyer Lane on Farm-to-Market 1749. A deputy went to the scene and confirmed it was human remains.
Investigators responded and kept the scene secure overnight until staff from the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Center could arrive and made the recovery on June 14. A Texas Ranger and staff from the Fort Worth Police Department also were on scene.
“There is no determination made yet on how long it has been there,” said Thomas. “The anthropologist was pleased to recover most of the skeleton in these conditions. Heavy rains previously made the past searches difficult. We are working jointly with Fort Worth to make an identification and if it is the victim in their homicide.”
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