Death Threats to Credit Union Employees Shuts Down Branches
Out of an extreme abundance of caution, Washington State Employees Credit Union closes some branches and headquarters early.
A Washington man will be arraigned next week for allegedly threatening to kill employees of the $5.3 billion Washington State Employees Credit Union in Olympia.
The death threat forced WSECU to close seven branches and its headquarters early on Tuesday.
Brandon R. Holt, 40, was arrested and charged Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of felony harassment, threat to kill, according to court filings and The Chronicle, a local news outlet.
“The threat of violence was made during a collections call on 4/16 as our Member Solutions representative was trying to contact a borrower. The person he spoke with was the borrower’s husband,” a WSECU spokesperson said. “After our employee politely offered contact information for the wife to return our call, the husband expressed frustration and stated, that he ‘would be there shortly to kill you all.’”
The employee was directed to call law enforcement and while WSECU was waiting for an assigned officer to call back, the credit union’s incident response team decided to close several regional branches early (all within an approximate 90-minute drive of the suspect’s hometown) out of an extreme abundance of caution, WSECU said.
The affected branches and the credit union’s headquarters in Olympia closed roughly between 4:45pm and 5:05pm. The credit union’s open hours are until 5:30.
“We appreciate the work of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office in contacting the person who made the threat and arresting him,” WSECU’s spokesperson said. “After discussions with the deputy, we believe there is no further threat to WSECU and branches opened as normal on Wednesday, April 17.”
Because each incident is unique, WSECU said it is reviewing this case to find opportunities to fine-tune its safety and security protocols.
“We are in the middle of documenting and reviewing this incident now, capturing feedback from the various stakeholders involved. ‘Our playbook’ for scenarios like this will get shored up based on what we learn so we are even better prepared if there is a next time,” WSECU’s spokesperson said. “These are scary moments. Even though threats like this thankfully are almost always a bluff and acting out in anger or frustration, we need to take them seriously and respond accordingly to protect our staff and our members.”