Crime doesn't pay at the Bank of Clarkson.

In fact, it can be quite lethal.

For the second time in three years, branch manager Clyde Bratcher Jr. has gunned down a would-be robber at the bank's Midway Plaza branch in the Grayson County town of 611.

Bratcher, a Sunday School teacher, ``grew up here in the neighborhood and I consider him a good, honest person,'' said former Mayor Arville L. Dunn. ``But I guess you'd better not rob his bank.''

Bratcher shot and killed Brad Douglas Evans, 28, of Greensburg on Tuesday after Evans leaped over the bank's counter, loudly threatened a teller and demanded money, officials said.

Evans got $3,500, but dropped it after Bratcher shot him twice in the chest with a handgun. Evans died on the bank's floor. He was unarmed, police say.

In September 1996, Bratcher killed Robert A. Hazelwood, 44, of Leitchfield during an attempted robbery. Hazelwood, clutching a high-powered rifle, his face obscured by a stocking, was felled by a single shot after he pointed his weapon at Bratcher.

Bratcher also survived a bank robbery in 1981; nobody was shot during that holdup.

Kentucky State Police are investigating Tuesday's shooting. Their findings will be turned over to a Grayson County grand jury, Trooper Eddie Lair said.

A University of Kentucky law school professor said it's unlikely a grand jury will second-guess Bratcher. Bratcher has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, Lair said.

``If you reasonably believe you're in danger of your life, then you're allowed to use deadly force,'' criminal law professor Bill Fortune said.

A grand jury looked at the 1996 shooting but found no reason to indict Bratcher.

Evans stood about 6 feet tall, weighed 200 pounds and sported racist tattoos -- a swastika and ``white power'' were etched into his skin, Grayson County Deputy Coroner Ronald Hudson said.

Officials say Evans' rap sheet included theft, burglary, assault, escape and arson.

``This guy's served at Eddyville and LaGrange. He's got a pretty extreme track record,'' Hudson said.

Bratcher, 56, is described as an ideal citizen who teaches Sunday School at First Baptist Church in nearby Leitchfield. He has been a bank employee for 36 years and a branch manager for about 20.

The shootings have been difficult for Bratcher, friends say.

``He wouldn't harm anyone unless he had to. He's a really nice guy,'' said former bank president Howard Williams.

Bratcher declined to discuss the shooting. His wife, Lillian, said the shooting ``has been a very, very upsetting, painful thing for us and our family.

``It's our faith in God that's getting us through. It's just so hard to go through this for a second time.''

Nationwide, there were about 8,300 bank robberies and burglaries in 1997, according to the FBI, including 81 in Kentucky. Overall, 236 people were injured, 40 were killed and 79 were taken hostage.

An official with the American Bankers Association said Bratcher's actions are unusual.

``Bank employees are not expected to catch criminals on their own, but rather to help law enforcement apprehend them,'' said ABA spokesman John Hall.

But that isn't always the case at the Bank of Clarkson -- and hasn't been for 40 years or so thanks to the Bratcher family.

In 1958, Bratcher's grandfather, then-bank president Clyde Bratcher Sr., pulled a World War I-era gun on three bank robbers and pulled the trigger.

``The bullets didn't come out but it made an awful noise,'' fellow banker Howard Williams said.

The thieves left empty-handed.