Officials investigating the April 9 armed robbery at United Community Bank’s Homer Road office don’t have many leads.
A black male entered the bank at about 9:30, produced a small silver handgun, demanded money from a teller and made a clean getaway.
UPDATE: Few leads in robbery of United Community Bank
The suspect is described as five feet, 10 inches to 6 feet tall, and 200 to 240 pounds.
Police Chief John Gaissert said the robber’s face was obscured by a white gauze mask. The robber made a customer service representative get off the phone, handed a teller a plastic bag, pointed a silver handgun at her and told her to “hurry up.”
Police immediately put out a lookout for a “small, older model red car,” but “nobody can confirm that they saw him get in,” noted Detective Chad Knight of the police department. “They saw a red car leaving the parking lot of Tiger Town Pharmacy and Century 21 next door and coming in toward town fast, but we have no confirmation.”
The bank’s security system did not get good photos, said Knight.
“The best picture we have is of the gun,” Knight reported, indicating that the lack of pictures may indicate the robber is experienced. “He kept his head down, told them not to look at him and had gloves on. There was nothing we could get physical evidence from.”
Bank personnel saw the suspect run toward the office complex next door, Knight said. A tracking dog lost the scent behind the building, leading officers to conclude that the robber made his getaway by vehicle.
The robbery was the third area bank robbery in a little over a year. Robbers struck Northeast Georgia Bank at Banks Crossing in April 2008 and in October. The second suspect was captured in the south end of the county following a chase. He was from the Greenville area, and Knight said his “first instinct” after last week’s robbery made him think that the suspect might also be from South Carolina — and have experience robbing banks.
“There was something he did that we’re not releasing that led us to believe either he’d done it before or studied the bank, something as far as how the money was dealt with,” Knight said.
Police Chief John Gaissert said the robber’s face was obscured by a white gauze mask. The robber made a customer service representative get off the phone, handed a teller a plastic bag, pointed a silver handgun at her and told her to “hurry up.”
Police immediately put out a lookout for a “small, older model red car,” but “nobody can confirm that they saw him get in,” noted Detective Chad Knight of the police department. “They saw a red car leaving the parking lot of Tiger Town Pharmacy and Century 21 next door and coming in toward town fast, but we have no confirmation.”
The bank’s security system did not get good photos, said Knight.
“The best picture we have is of the gun,” Knight reported, indicating that the lack of pictures may indicate the robber is experienced. “He kept his head down, told them not to look at him and had gloves on. There was nothing we could get physical evidence from.”
Bank personnel saw the suspect run toward the office complex next door, Knight said. A tracking dog lost the scent behind the building, leading officers to conclude that the robber made his getaway by vehicle.
The robbery was the third area bank robbery in a little over a year. Robbers struck Northeast Georgia Bank at Banks Crossing in April 2008 and in October. The second suspect was captured in the south end of the county following a chase. He was from the Greenville area, and Knight said his “first instinct” after last week’s robbery made him think that the suspect might also be from South Carolina — and have experience robbing banks.
“There was something he did that we’re not releasing that led us to believe either he’d done it before or studied the bank, something as far as how the money was dealt with,” Knight said.
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#1
this is obserd
on
04/13/09 at 02:19 AM
[Reply]
I can't understand why people think that they have to result to such crimes.Many people blame the "bad economy", but there's just no excuse for commiting any crime.There are too many offers for help out there.You've just got to put your "pride" in your pocket & be willing to accept the offers.
#2
greg
on
04/15/09 at 10:09 PM
[Reply]
i cant understand why people have to do that either,but they do,another thing i cant understand is why the police have 3 to 4 cars at a time on the interstate,and the banks are getting robbed,cant the 3 to 4 cars they have on the interstate be used to patroll these banks..you know having a law enforcement officer being seen does help with crime some...but drug money off the interstate is more important than the people they are suppose to protect and serve,i guess
