Local briefs

Foster City police are looking for a man wanted for a robbing a bank in a ski mask yesterday morning.

At 9:35 a.m., Foster City police responded to a report of a bank robbery at Citibank, located at 951 Edgewater Blvd. A man wearing a long-sleeved shirt with dark sleeves and a light body with the worked "avirex” on the chest, dark pants and a white shirt, according to a statement released by police.

The man brandished a silver gun during the robbery and then left on foot south through the parking lot. He escaped with an undisclosed about of money, according to police.

No one was injured during the robbery, according to police.

The man is described as having a medium complexion, between 5 feet 7 inches and 6 feet tall, weighing about 185 pounds.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the Foster City Police Department Detective Bureau at 286-3300 or the department tip line at 286-3323.

Man escapes apartment fire

A resident awakened by the sound of light fixtures popping in his Half Moon Bay apartment managed to escape a fire on Monday, though several pets perished, officials reported yesterday morning.

The Half Moon Bay Fire District was called at 2:35 p.m. Monday to the 500 block of San Mateo Road, where a fire was fully underway in the upstairs apartment area of a multi-use warehouse.

The resident, though his exit was obscured by heavy smoke, escaped to the outside with burns and symptoms of minor smoke inhalation.

With the aid of two engine companies and several volunteers, the fire was brought under control. A dog, a cat, and several fish perished in the fire. Property damage was estimated at $30,000.

Investigators later determined the fire began near a couch that was also near discarded smoking materials and an electric appliance. The apartment lacked smoke detectors, officials said.

BART predicting record holiday increases

Bay Area Rapid Transit is expecting record increases in ridership this holiday weekend to both San Francisco and Oakland International airports and will make hundreds more East Bay BART station long-term parking spaces available and double the number of AirBART shuttles to Oakland International Airport from Wednesday, according to officials.

Between Wednesday and Monday, BART expects 45,000 people to ride BART to and from SFO, a 2.2 percent increase from the Thanksgiving period 2005, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said in a statement.

BART is also predicting that 28,000 passengers will ride the AirBART shuttle between the Coliseum/Oakland Airport Station and Oakland International Airport, a 5 percent increase over the same period in 2005, Johnson said.

An additional 235 long-term parking spaces will be available through Sunday at all East Bay BART stations except West Oakland, Coliseum/Oakland Airport and Lake Merritt, bringing the total spaces available to 805, agency spokesman Jim Allison said.

Permits for long-term parking cost $5 per day. The fine for violating BART’s 24-hour weekday time limit at station parking lots is $100.

BART passengers have set ridership records to SFO during the Thanksgiving holiday travel period each year since the SFO station opened in 2003, Johnson said.

In 2003, approximately 36,400 passengers took BART to SFO between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Monday afterward, according to Johnson. During the same time period in 2004, 41,500 passengers took BART to SFO. In 2005, 43,800 passengers used the service.

The number of passengers using the AirBART service to the Oakland airport has also increased since 2004, Johnson said. In 2004, 23,200 passengers used the airport shuttle to get to and from the Oakland airport. In 2005, some 26,800 rode AirBART over Thanksgiving.

BART officials attribute the increase in ridership to BART’s low cost, the frequency of trains, and the agency’s 95 percent passenger on-time record, Johnson said.

Home invasion robbery suspects arraigned

Two suspects charged in connection with an Oct. 24 armed home invasion robbery in San Bruno were arraigned yesterday in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Sydney Faataui, 21, and Fernando Martinez, 18, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree robbery and discharging a firearm.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, a San Bruno couple, boyfriend and girlfriend, were watching TV at home that night when three masked suspects knocked on the door and, armed with guns and knives, forced their way in and demanded money.

One of the suspects held a knife to the woman’s throat, while a gun was pointed at the man’s head in another room, the district attorney’s office reported.

Both victims were beaten and when the boyfriend tried to escape, one of the suspects fired a shotgun into the couch, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Thinking her boyfriend had been shot, the woman screamed, alerting neighbors, who called police.

Two of the robbery suspects, believed to be Faataui and Martinez, one with an unloaded revolver and the other with a fake gun, were still at the home when police arrived. Both were arrested, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

A third suspect jumped out of a window and escaped. A loaded shotgun was found in an alley outside the apartment, according to the district attorney’s office.

Both Faataui and Martinez remain in custody in lieu of $300,000 bail and are next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 18 at 1:30 p.m. for their pretrial conference.

A jury trial for the two men is scheduled to being Jan. 8 at 8:45 a.m.