Brandon Council murdered 2 CresCrom bank employees. Now their families are suing.
Katie Skeen and Donna Major were brutality murdered inside the Conway CresCrom bank in 2017. The man who pulled the trigger sits on federal death row awaiting his execution.
Now, the Skeen and Major families are suing the bank and the security providers over the employees’ deaths.
The families say the security system called the wrong number after a silent alarm was triggered during the robberies. If the right number was called, the woman might still be alive.
“If [the security system] had recorded or kept the correct phone number for CresCom Bank, it would have deterred the shooter from committing murder,” the suit reads.
The robbery and murders
On Aug. 21, 2017 — the day of a solar eclipse — Skeen and Major worked at the Conway CresCom branch on 16th Avenue near U.S. 501.
Brandon Council was on the run for other robberies in North Carolina and staying at a motel near the bank.
The details of Council’s actions in the days before, during the robbery, and the days following were detailed as part of a month-long trial in federal court. A jury sentenced Council to death for the murders. He is currently on death row in Indiana with an appeal pending.
Council was the first person sentenced to death since federal officials announced they resumed carrying out executions.
Council spent money from the earlier robberies on drugs and to feed himself as he hung out at the Conway motel. Then, on Aug. 21, 2017, he walked from the hotel into the bank.
Once inside the branch, Council went to the teller counter where Major worked. Video surveillance captured most of the crime spree inside the bank.
Council said he had to cash a check and waited for a moment. He glanced at the door and then pulled out a .22-caliber gun and shot Major in the arm. The mother of three held papers to her face to protect herself, as Council continued firing and shot her in the chest. Major stumbled into the corner.
Skeen, who was in her office, screamed and Council darted from the teller’s station into her office. Council told Skeen he was sorry as he shot her twice while she hid under her desk.
Council ran back to Major, who at this point was lying on the ground, and shot her again in the head.
Council spent several minutes walking around the bank and taking money. He also took Skeen’s car keys and drove her car away from the area. Police arrived minutes later to find the women dead in the bank.
As police searched the area for a suspect, Council drove to his home state of North Carolina. He spent the money from the robberies on hotels and bought a car. Days later, authorities arrested him outside a hotel as he exited the car. The clothes he wore during the robbery, the gun and the remaining money from the robbery were in the trunk.
Council gave a detailed confession to the police and admitted he knew he was going to kill the employees before going into the bank.
“I’m a doofus, I’m an idiot,” Council told the officers for what he described as his “(expletive)-up” decision-making. “I don’t deserve to live.”
The civil lawsuit
The Skeen and Major families have sued CresCom bank, security officer Freda Gore, Security Technology Services LLC, Lake Norman Security Patrol, Inc., March Network Security Patrol and Gator Coastal Shopping Centre LLC. The suit was filed in Horry County court.
Gator Coastal Shopping Centre is the plaza where the bank was located.
One of the security cameras was not working on the day of the murder, according to the lawsuit. The bank was also on heightened security that day because of the solar eclipse, the suit states.
A silent alarm was triggered during the robberies, according to the lawsuit. Security companies tried to call the phone near the teller station, but called a number not associated with the bank.
The security companies then called the police, but there was confusion on where officers were supposed to respond, the filing states.
Skeen’s and Major’s families say if the correct phone was called, Council would have been scared or deterred from committing the murders. It would have also alerted the authorities sooner.
There were also instances of criminal activity near the bank’s property in the years leading up to the murders, but CresCom took no steps to help improve security at the branch, according to the filing.
The suit states that all the defendants were negligent in providing adequate security. The families asked for an unspecified amount of money in the lawsuit.
Officials from CresCom bank could not be immediately reached for comment for this story.
This story was originally published July 6, 2020 at 11:52 AM.
