NORTHRIDGE : Bank Robbers Hold Executive’s Family Hostage
A Northridge bank official’s infant twins, husband and baby-sitter were taken hostage by robbers who forced the executive to open a vault early Friday and then got away with an undisclosed amount of money, the FBI said.
Neither the hostages nor another bank employee seized by the robbers at the bank were harmed during the 22-hour ordeal. The five men who carried out the robbery of the Coast Federal Bank branch in Northridge remained at large, FBI spokesman John Hoos said.
The FBI did not release the identities of the victims.
Officials said the robbers, at least one of whom as armed with a gun, invaded the bank executive’s San Fernando Valley home about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, seizing the twin infants and the baby-sitter--and the executive and her husband when they came home.
“No one was mistreated,” said Hoos. “They allowed the baby-sitter to attend to the two babies.”
About 8 a.m. the executive was taken to the bank by two robbers, where she was forced to open the vault and was tied up along with another employee. By 8:30 a.m., the two robbers fled the bank in the executive’s car and the other three hostage-takers had left the house, Hoos said.
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