Police Suspect Gang Link in Bank Heist

Authorities believe a Los Angeles-based gang is responsible for robbing an Imperial Beach bank by boring a hole in the roof in the dead of night, ambushing employees as they entered in the morning and then making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The daring Thursday morning robbery of a Security Pacific Bank was done by members of the so-called Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, said FBI spokesman Jack Kelly.

The FBI is convinced that the robbers have made similar bank hits in the Los Angeles area during the past year.

“The hole was just big enough for a body to fit through,” Kelly said. “It wasn’t much bigger than 24 inches” in diameter.

Witnesses told investigators that the three men wore masks and were carrying handguns. One had a revolver and the other an automatic pistol. One robber left the bank as soon as it opened.

“Three to five people were in the bank with the robbers,” Kelly said. “The robbery didn’t take very long, probably less than 20 minutes.”

The robbers escaped in a sports car belonging to the bank manager, one witness told authorities.

Although most banks are equipped with electronic surveillance cameras, authorities are waiting to see if they were operating at the time of the robbery.

“We don’t have any pictures at this moment, and we don’t know if we will get any,” Kelly said.

One employee at the bank said most of the employees who were at the bank during the robbery did not work Friday. There were no reported injuries.

Kelly said the robbers first appeared last October in the San Fernando Valley area and have committed at least four similar robberies.

All the robberies are still under investigation, and no suspects have been identifies, Kelly said.