An active hostage situation ended peacefully at Alabama Credit Union in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Tuesday. The credit union's CEO, Steve Swofford spoke with CU Times following the incident saying, "We train our employees pretty well for these kinds of situations and they handled the situation great."
According to the Tuscaloosa Police Department, around 8:30 a.m. CDT an armed male suspect entered the main office branch, located at 220 Paul Bryant Dr. on the southeastern edge of the University of Alabama campus and took eight hostages captive, all of which were employees of the credit union.
While waiting outside with police, Swofford said there were a lot of things going through his mind – first and foremost, the safety of the employees. "You fear the worst in a situation like that. You just hope that nobody gets hurt."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
