ATM technician robbed at gunpoint in south KC

By Ben McCarthy

A brazen robbery attempt Wednesday night of the Bank of America ATM at near 135th and State Line Road left cash strewn across the ground, and a local service technician fleeing for his life.

Matthew Cox, 22, a local service technician for area ATM’s was servicing the unit at 1210 West 135th Terrace in south Kansas City on Wednesday night. Sometime around 8:30 pm, a car of four men pulled up with guns while Cox had the unit opened up. 

Cox travels the area, and the greater Midwest servicing ATM’s. According to his family at the scene, he gets calls regularly late at night, (even past midnight) to perform such repairs. Speaking with a noticeable Australian accent, Cox’s father said he had been worried about the late nights his son had been working. 

There was no immediate indication that Cox was followed to the ATM, but rather that the vehicle carrying the armed assailants stumbled upon his servicing the unit. Cox’s vehicle, a white Volkswagen Atlas, was not branded with any company affiliation or indication of what tasks it performed for banks. Cox’s vehicle was the only one on bank property Wednesday night when he began servicing the ATM unit, which can be seen quite visibly by nearby traffic along 135th Street traffic. 

Cox recognized the vehicle pulling in, with guns drawn on him and fled the scene immediately. No shots were fired, and it was not immediately clear how much money was taken from the ATM. 

The gunmen got away, but not without patrons at the neighboring Dairy Queen seeing everything that unfolded. According to KCPD at the scene, witnesses were able to provide detailed descriptions of the car, license plate, and other features of the assailants. 

At least a half dozen KCPD vehicles responded to the scene, and blocked off the bank property. The ATM was still wide open as police conducted their investigation.

“This is not how I thought my night would go,” Cox said, as he was being taken to a police car for a formal statement. 

Cox’s father and older brother arrived at the scene at just after 9pm. They said that this was his first full-time job, and he’d only been in the position for about 9 months. They left briefly and returned with Krispy Kreme donuts and Naked Juice in tow, as police held the victim and witnesses for questioning for the better part of 90 minutes. Holding onto the donuts his family purchased, Cox said he would abide by police wishes for him to refrain from any public comments on what transpired Wednesday evening.

A young couple at the next door Dairy Queen spotted what was transpiring at Bank of America and provided police with detailed information of the assailants, including following the car to retrieve license plate information. 

According to police, there is not currently anyone in police custody and detectives are actively working on identifying subjects of interest. The investigation is ongoing at this time.

Kudos to Telegraph reporter Ben McCarthy who happened across the crime scene Wednesday night and decided to investigate it.