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Robber hits First Indy bank

Heights branch held up by man with note

By Marissa Harshman, Columbian Health Reporter
Published: October 13, 2010, 12:00am

A man with a note indicating he had a bomb held up a First Independent Bank late Wednesday morning.

The man entered the bank branch at 6501 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., in the Vancouver Heights neighborhood, at about 11:15 a.m. He handed a teller a note indicating he had an explosive device. He fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

Police evacuated the bank; the eight employees working at the time waited in the parking lot of the shopping complex where the bank is located.

Just before noon, two officers and a K-9 began searching the perimeter of the building. The dog sniffed around garbage cans, the drive-up teller window and ATM machines.

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Officers and the K-9 then entered the building. After a few minutes, they exited the building without finding an explosive device.

Police allowed bank employees to return to the building at about 12:15 p.m., and then cordoned off the building with yellow police tape.

Police searched the surrounding neighborhood, including the Park Hill Cemetery to the west, but did not locate the suspect.

The man is described as Hispanic, in his early 20s, 5-feet 6-inches tall, with dark hair and wearing a blue and white or gray and white striped, long-sleeved collared shirt and dark jeans.

The robbery is similar to an Oct. 2 robbery at a Chase Bank branch in Vancouver. In that case, a man with the same general description entered the bank at 11:52 a.m. and presented a demand note indicating he was heavily armed, had a bomb and wanted cash.

The same branch of First Indy was robbed on Sept. 14 by a man who did not match the description of Wednesday’s bandit.

Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.

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Columbian Health Reporter