San Mateo police are looking for of a man they suspect was wearing a "wrinkled grumpy old man" Halloween mask when he robbed the United California Bank on El Camino Real of an undisclosed amount of cash yesterday afternoon.
The man, identified as a heavyset black male, approximately 220 pounds, was last seen running south on Palm Avenue after robbing the bank.
Nick Maher, a 12-year-old boy who was riding his bike to Hillsdale Shopping Center on Palm Avenue during the robbery, said the suspect had bleached blond hair. Maher said he saw the suspect run east down the alley to the north of the bank and drop a bag of money. Maher said the bag began to stream red smoke as the man ran past him.
"I didn't know what was going on, but once I figured it out, it was scary," he said.
The bag was recovered and contained some of the stolen money, according to San Mateo Police Lt. Mike Brunicardi.
The bank was robbed just before 2:30 p.m. The suspect wore a beige hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans and approached a bank employee and a security guard standing outside the bank, Brunicardi said.
The suspect said he had a gun inside a brown paper bag and forced the two people inside. He then demanded money from a teller. Employees inside the bank as well as the security guard refused to comment. The suspect was not located and there were no injuries. The last time the bank was robbed was June 29, 2000, when it was called Sanwa Bank, Brunicardi said.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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