Holdups in Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa

Robbers who ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint escaped with about $60,000 from a teachers’ credit union in Fountain Valley on Friday. And in a separate incident, $5,000 was recovered at a Costa Mesa thrift after the bandits’ bag exploded with red dye and tear gas.

Two men entered the Home Savings of America at 10:15 a.m. in the 1400 block of West Baker Street just after it opened for business, Police Lt. John E. FitzPatrick said.

“One of the men jumped over the counter, pulled a pillowcase from his pants and emptied the cash drawers, while the other one stood with a large, blue-steel revolver pointed at about 10 employees in the room,” FitzPatrick said.

The men took about $5,000 but dropped the money when the bag it was encased in exploded, spewing red dye and tear gas, FitzPatrick said. Financial institutions use the device to thwart robberies.

The money was recovered and the suspects were last seen heading south through a parking lot, and then possibly driving a utility truck, investigators said.

At 11:37 a.m., three armed men ordered employees and customers of the Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union on Brookhurst Street to lie on the floor. One robber stood by the door as two others climbed over the teller counter and ordered an employee to unlock the vault, police said.

The men stuffed about $60,000 into a clear trash bag and fled in a stolen blue sedan, but left it a short distance away and climbed into a light blue minivan, police said.

“The two incidents sound similar to me,” FitzPatrick said. “But I can’t confirm that they are related.”