Madre

Sierra Madre Bank Robber Sought

Police are searching for an armed bank robber who struck a Bank of the West in Sierra Madre Wednesday afternoon.

Around 1 p.m., a man dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, wearing a painters-style mask and a black wide-brimmed hat demanded money and pepper-sprayed employees at the branch in the 100 block of West Sierra Madre Boulevard.

Sierra Madre Boulevard was closed between Hermosa Avenue and Windsor Lane for several hours as the Sierra Madre Police Department and the FBI investigated, according to a Facebook post from the city.

"Fortunately there were no customers in the bank it was just the bank staff," said Chief Larry Giannone. "He immediately walked to the counter, jumped the counter. He then put a gun to the teller's head and demanded $100,000."

The teller gave him what was available. He insisted it wasn't enough, so he went to several other tellers demanding more money. Giannone said he pulled out the pepper spray when he became frustrated that tellers had a difficult time opening one of the drawers.

The robber reportedly made a getaway in a silver colored sedan driven by another unknown suspect.

He escaped with an unknown amount of cash.

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Anyone with information is asked to call police at 626-355-1414.

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