NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Suspect Held After 3 Gunmen Rob Bank

Three men robbed a North Hollywood bank Wednesday morning, and a suspected robber was arrested nearby a short time later, Los Angeles police reported.

Eugene Richards, 22, of South Los Angeles was taken into custody in connection with a robbery at the Bank of America’s Valley Plaza branch at 6600 Laurel Canyon Blvd. about 10:15 a.m., Det. Norm Roberge said. Police also recovered a gun and getaway car that officers said were used in the incident.

The three robbers--armed with a shotgun, an automatic pistol and a revolver--entered the bank and ordered customers to get down, Roberge said.

One stood in the lobby as a lookout as the other two demanded money from several tellers at gunpoint, he said.

The men ran from the bank with an undetermined amount of cash and jumped into a car that had been stolen in a carjacking two days earlier, police said. A North Hollywood division detective watched them speed off and tailed them to a nearby house on Ben Avenue.

Patrol cars arrived at the residence as the robbers were changing their clothing behind the house, Roberge said. Police caught Richards, but officers flying overhead in a helicopter and police dogs at the scene were unsuccessful in locating the other two men.

The robbery was one of two such holdups within an hour in the San Fernando Valley on Wednesday, police said. Two men robbed the Telephone Employees Credit Union at 15340 Sherman Way in Van Nuys shortly before 11 a.m., and both robbers remain at large.

Police said there have been 75 bank robberies in Los Angeles since the beginning of the year.