Did the family of Marcus Williams sue a bank for $500,000 after he was electrocuted trying to rob an ATM in Houston? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that such an incident ever happened to anyone named Marcus Williams or anyone else in the United States. No news reports describe someone dying from an electrical shock while trying to rob an ATM, and there are no court cases or news reports showing that a family later sued a bank over such an incident.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the @Heymom! account on Facebook on June 11, 2026. It read:
19-Year-Old Thief Dies After being electrocuted While Trying to Rob an ATM #newstoday #court #BreakingNews
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Heymom! on Facebook.)
The video is embedded below:
The narration in the 80-second video said:
A thief was electrocuted while trying to pry open an ATM and steal cash. Shockingly, his family later sued the bank for $500,000.
The incident happened late one night in Houston, Texas. Surveillance footage showed 18-year-old Marcus Williams approaching an ATM with a metal pry bar. As he tried to force the machine open, the metal bar made contact with internal electrical components, sending a powerful surge of electricity through his body. He screamed and collapsed to the ground. His body wasn't discovered until the following morning, when an employee called 911. By the time police and paramedics arrived, Marcus had already died. The medical examiner determined that he suffered cardiac arrest caused by a high-voltage electric shock.
A few days later, Marcus' family filed a lawsuit against the bank, seeking $500,000 in damages. They argued that the bank had failed to implement adequate safety measures and should therefore be held responsible for his death.
After reviewing the case, the judge dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the bank had fulfilled its reasonable duty of care and that Marcus knowingly chose to commit an illegal act. His death was the direct result of his own actions. The court ruled that the bank was not liable for any damages and ordered Marcus' family to cover the repair costs for the damaged ATM.
Do you think the judge made the right decision? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports from credible news outlets using the search terms: "electrocuted," "ATM" and "sue." No credible outlets have reported the claim.
The video
There are several inconsistencies in the video and the story. The victim is identified as a 19-year-old in the social media description, while the narration says he's 18.
The video is a collection of clips spliced together to match the general narrative of the story. Lead Stories identified scenes from Anaconda, which is in Deer Lodge County, Montana, and Phoenix, not Houston, where the incident was supposed to have happened. There are at least two different ATMs shown in the video: One is inside, and the other is outside. Also, the man shown being electrocuted in the video does not match the inset photo of the person who is supposed to be Marcus Williams. Screenshots of the two images can be seen below:
(Image source: post by @Heymom! on X.)
