It was every bank employee’s worst nightmare—being threatened at gunpoint by an individual demanding entrance to a bank vault. The employee in this instance, who was one of the bank’s managers, told the man she was unable to open it, so he shot her and fled.

The violent and brazen attempted bank robbery took place early in the morning on March 18, 2015 in the small Tennessee town of Humboldt, located approximately 90 miles northeast of Memphis. The perpetrator, Dominic Williams, was apprehended and charged with the crime—and as a result of the joint investigation by the Humboldt Police Department (HPD) and the Memphis FBI Field Office, he was sentenced last month to 37 years in federal prison.

In the early morning hours of that March day, the bank manager left her house and walked to the carport to get to her car. Williams, who had been hiding in front of her vehicle, stood up and, pointing the gun at the manager, asked if “she wanted to die today.” He forced her into the driver’s seat and demanded that she drive to her bank. Once at the bank, he had her unlock the doors—no one else was in yet—and told her to get money from the cashiers’ drawers, but the drawers were empty at the time. He then demanded that she open the night drop vault, and when she didn’t, he simply shot her through the chest and ran off.