A former reporter and Effingham County resident is being charged with attempted bank robbery and is in a Savannah hospital after his hold up went awry.

Don Lowery, 52, was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center with serious injuries after he was hurt in his own attempt to hold up the Bank South at 620 Stephenson Ave. in Savannah on Monday morning. Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan credited the quick actions of a bank customer for foiling the apparent robbery attempt.

The citizen, who requested to remain anonymous and does business at the bank regularly, says his actions were out of fear for the safety of the tellers working in the bank.

“I knew that if I didn’t do something, this man would have hurt those ladies, and that’s all I could think about at the time,” the citizen said.

According to the SCMPD, Lowery walked into the bank armed with a sawed-off shotgun strapped to his waistband with more than 20 rounds of ammunition. He told the tellers and one patron, doing business at the time, that it was a holdup.

The patron told the robber to get out of the bank. That’s when Lowery attempted to draw his weapon. However, the weapon somehow became entangled in the process.

The citizen wasted no time reacting to the blunder and immediately took Lowery to the ground. A struggle ensued, but the citizen managed to control Lowery and detain him until police arrived.

When police arrived, they found the two and disarmed Lowery, who previously worked for several area newspapers.

The citizen suffered only minor scrapes during the ordeal. Paramedics at the scene treated him. No one else in the bank was injured.

Lowery will face federal charges once he is released from the hospital.