Pregnant bank teller, fetuses survive shooting

updated 9:09 p.m. ET April 22, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - A bank teller pregnant with twins was shot in the stomach during a robbery Tuesday morning, but both the teller and the fetuses survived the attack, authorities said.

The gunman came into the Huntington Bank branch around 9:30 a.m., jumped over the counter screaming and shot the teller, Duhamell said. He then fired another shot as he was running out of the bank, Lt. Jeff Duhamell said.

The bullet entered the abdomen of Katherin Shuffield, 30, who is five months pregnant, but missed both fetuses, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said.

"Angry is really what I am. This is just brazen," said Ballard.

Sheffield was hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Thompson said.

Police arrested two teenagers who were trying to enter a nearby high school about two hours after the attack, but both were released to their parents and were no longer considered suspects, Thompson said.

"This is senseless. Some poor lady, trying to make a living, pregnant, shot by a man without any provocation," Police Chief Michael Spears said.

The high school that the two teenagers tried to enter was temporarily locked down. Officers searched the school for a weapon, Spears said. Other schools in the area also were locked down as police searched for the shooter.

Duhamell said investigators didn't know why the robber shot Sheffield. It's unusual for bank robbers to shoot people because tellers are trained to hand over cash, he said.

"There's no indication that he knew her," Duhamell said.

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