By Samantha Wohlfeil
Bellingham Police have released a surveillance photo of the man who robbed the Fairhaven branch of Banner Bank on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 21.
The man appears to be the same suspect who robbed the same bank on July 25.
The man walked into the bank, located at 1414 12th St. about 1:23 p.m. Tuesday sporting a long black ponytail and wearing dark sunglasses, a baseball hat, and a scarf around his face.
Unlike the July robbery, in which the male suspect displayed a semi-automatic pistol, the robber on Tuesday did not show any weapon when he demanded money from the teller.
The man left on a black and white bicycle, which was later found next to Lower Padden Creek west of the Bellingham Tennis Club.
A federal helicopter assisted police in the search for the man but they were unable to find him.
Both robberies occurred around 1:30 p.m. and both times the man got away on a bicycle.
When asked if he thought the robber might have tried to catch the 1:50 p.m. Greyhound bus that leaves for Seattle each day from the Bellingham Amtrak station, located just blocks from where the suspect’s bicycle was found on Tuesday, Bellingham Lt. Rick Sucee said police are not sure how the suspect got away.
The suspect was described as a thin white male in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall. He had a long black ponytail and was wearing a dark baseball cap, a sky blue jersey-style shirt with dark blue sleeves, dark pants, and dark shoes with white soles. The suspect may have a goatee and mustache.
A man by the same description robbed the same bank July 25. Police searched from downtown Bellingham to Teddy Bear Cove with the help of a federal border helicopter, but they were unable to locate the suspect. In that case the suspect left the bank on a red mountain bike.
Anyone with information about either robbery is asked to call the Bellingham Police Department at 360-778-8800.
Below, the surveillance image of the man in Tuesday’s robbery.
Here’s the picture of the suspect from the July 25 robbery.
Both photos were courtesy to The Bellingham Herald from the Bellingham Police Department.
Below a map of the bank’s location and the location where the suspect’s bike was found.
View August 21 Banner Bank Robbery in a larger map
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