FULLERTON : Robbers Flee Bank at Sound of Buzzer
Three men wearing ski masks and brandishing handguns robbed patrons at a bank Wednesday but fled when they apparently mistook a buzzing sound for a bank alarm, police said.
No one was injured during the holdup, which occurred about 11:30 a.m. at a Farmers & Merchants Bank branch in the 1700 block of West Orangethorpe Avenue, Sgt. Glenn Deveney said.
Deveney said the robbers burst into the bank and ordered employees and customers to the floor.
“They literally took over the bank,” he said.
As the robbers were taking money from bank customers, Deveney said, a buzzer sounded, scaring the three men, who fled with only what they took from the customers.
Deveney said the buzzer sound could have been from an electronic lock used to let people behind the bank counter.
The robbers escaped in a 1992 or ’93 blue Toyota Corolla, Deveney said. He said people inside the bank jotted down the car’s license plate number.
The plate had been reported stolen in Los Angeles County and did not belong to the getaway car.
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