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VIDEO: Wrapped In Each Other's Arms, Couple Fails To Notice Armed Robbery

Security footage shows the couple kissing through the holdup Monday in Billings, Mont.
Billings Gazette/Screen Shot by NPR
Security footage shows the couple kissing through the holdup Monday in Billings, Mont.

It was a scene that might rattle an ordinary pair of lovers.

Three masked assailants storm into a bar in Billings, Mont., brandishing raised weapons, security video shows. The bartender at the Tap Inn throws his hands up. One of the robbers cleans out the cash register as the others wave their guns at terrified bar patrons.

But for one couple, armed robbery was no match for amour. The intertwined pair continues kissing — just feet from the cash register — throughout the holdup, which lasted less than a minute. Both wear baseball caps on backward and oscillate between locking lips and staring intensely into each other's eyes, apparently so preoccupied that they failed to notice the gun-toting criminals.

The unfazed pair finally seem to pick up on the action after the suspects leave, as the bartender shuts the register.

Watch the video here:

And this version has footage from other security cameras around the bar:

There's no word on the identities of the kissing couple.

Bar co-owner Chuck Rhodes tells the Billings Gazette that he has a low opinion of the robbers' skill level. "To me, they weren't professional at all," Rhodes says, the Gazette reports. "They were just grabbing."

It's not clear how much money they came away with during the robbery early Monday, the newspaper reports.

Co-owner Bobbi Rhodes adds that the bartender is "doing well" and has "worked since the robbery."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Merrit Kennedy is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers a broad range of issues, from the latest developments out of the Middle East to science research news.