Drone Offers Faygo, Death To Bank Robbery Suspect

A cool, frosty Faygo Red Pop can be mighty tempting on a hot summer evening but that temptation strangely brought a fatal end to a bank hostage situation in Saginaw Township, Michigan.

On Friday, June 27, 2025, Quinton M. Allen somehow gained entry to a Mercantile Bank office after hours while an employee was still inside. Allen tried, and failed, to cash an allegedly fraudulent check, then attacked the employee and demanded money. Police responded, and a stand-off ensued. Negotiators made contact with Allen, who requested a Faygo Red Pop of all random demands, according to MLive.

Just after 8:00 p.m., police flew a drone with a Faygo Red Pop dangling below it to one of the bank's windows. As Allen appeared at the window to retrieve it, a Michigan State Police sniper perched on the roof of a nearby AutoZone took the shot, fatally wounding Allen. Police swarmed the building and rescued the employee, who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. We don't know if the Red Pop was damaged in the crossfire.

We've heard some crazy bank robbery stories, and even though no Uber or borrowed BMW was involved in this one, it's still one of the wildest, because there's so much wrong here. First, if you're going to try to allegedly cash a bad check, you might check the bank's business hours before showing up. Also, you might try going to an actual bank. This particular location is just a lending office with an ATM, not a full-service bank, and had no cash on hand. It wouldn't even have been able to cash a legitimate check for a legitimate customer anyway. This was clearly not a meticulously researched heist.

I've never tried a Faygo, but Managing Editor Erin Marquis tells me it's quite popular in Michigan, though she'd choose a Rock 'n Rye over Red Pop as her final soft drink on this Earth. Anyway, if I were in the middle of a police stand-off, I'd stay away from the windows if I could. It doesn't seem to have occurred to Allen that the drone-delivered Faygo might have been a trap, not a kind gesture. Is a Red Pop worth dying for? I'll have to try one for myself sometime to find out.