Gunmen Abduct Mother, Son in Bank Robbery

Several men armed with shotguns made off with “a large sum of cash” Monday after they held a bank supervisor and her son hostage overnight at their Carson home, then made the woman remove the money from her Torrance bank, an FBI spokesman said.

Mary McMillen, 54, and her son, Steve, 31, were freed unharmed as their three or four abductors escaped with the undisclosed amount of cash from a Wells Fargo Bank branch on Artesia Boulevard, authorities said.

The men burst into the McMillens’ mobile home about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, handcuffed them and detained them overnight, FBI spokesman Fred Reagan said.

They then drove the McMillens to the bank at 8 a.m. Monday and told Mary McMillen that they would shoot her son unless she opened the vault and brought them the money, authorities said.

While the abductors stayed in a car outside with Steve McMillen, his mother went inside, waited for a timing device to open the vault about 8:30 a.m., then collected the money as ordered, authorities said.

The men drove off with Steve McMillen before releasing him at an undisclosed location.

The bank was closed Monday while the FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the incident. Officials would not say if there are any suspects.