A takeover robbery occurred on Monday at 11:10 a.m. at Citibank on Sunset, adjacent to the post office. Three suspects, described as black males in their late teens to early 20s, entered the bank through the side door (off the courtyard), and two of them jumped the teller counter, according to FBI spokesperson Cheryl Mimura. They yelled “Everybody get down, this is not a joke!” and then took cash from a teller’s drawer. No weapons were seen. A fourth suspect may have stood guard outside the bank, according to several witnesses. The suspects were seen leaving in a burgundy GM Safari van from the alley behind the building. The stolen van was recovered within 20 minutes by LAPD about three blocks away at the corner of Embury and Albright. The suspects were wearing black beanies, black hooded sweatshirts and black gloves, with two of them also wearing black sunglasses, Mimura said. LAPD Detective J. Licata said the robbery appears to be linked to other bank robberies. “There have been several takeover robberies in the city and county over the last couple of months that look similar,” said Licata. “In a couple of other robberies, a stolen vehicle was used and abandoned in a nearby location.” A reward is available for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for the robbery. Contact: the LAPD Robbery/ Homicide division at (213) 485-0780. Longtime Palisadian Anne Froehlich was inside the bank talking to Citibank employee Henry Longres when the robbery occurred. “After I heard, ‘Get down,’ I hid under a desk,” she said. Another customer who was standing near the teller was pushed down by a suspect, but not injured. After the suspects fled, the bank was locked. Two witnesses who had seen the car parked in the alley (between Swarthmore and Monument) came and provided an identification of the car to police. Bank employees and witnesses in the bank were questioned by the police and the FBI for about 90 minutes as part of the investigation. According to Longres, this was the first robbery to occur at the Citibank (previously California Federal) branch in at least five years.
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