San Diego

Police are looking for two bank robbers who took $2,000 and $894 in unrelated robberies that occurred just 18 minutes apart Friday, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

The first robbery occurred at 12:26 p.m. at the Great American Bank in the 400 block of West San Ysidro Boulevard in San Ysidro, when a man in his 20s handed a teller a demand note and plastic bag, Robinson said. He took $2,000.

Although a weapon was not visible, the teller said the bandit indicated he was carrying a gun by tapping his left hip, Robinson said. The man left the bank with another man and drove off in a late 1970s Buick with no license plates, heading west, Robinson said.

The robber was described as being Latino, having short black hair, brown eyes and a mustache. He was wearing a white shirt with black trim, dark pants and white shoes, police said.

The second robbery was at 12:44 p.m. at the Union Bank on the 1600 block of Euclid Avenue in East San Diego, Robinson said, when a man, about 20, took $894.

The man scribbled a demand note and the teller filled a bank bag with the money and placed a dye pack in the bag, Robinson said.

The dye pack exploded when the man was in the bank parking lot, and witnesses said red dye showered the area. Witnesses said the man’s white sweat shirt was covered with the red dye when he got into an older model, dark blue truck with white, horizontal stripes.

The man drove the truck west on Elm Street. He is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, black, about 145 pounds and wearing blue jeans and a blue baseball cap.