Bank Robbers Escape Manhunt

Two gunmen dodged a hail of police bullets and then slipped through an intensive manhunt Wednesday after officers surprised them during a late-morning bank robbery, authorities said.

The robbers, both wearing nylon masks and armed with handguns, reportedly escaped capture by running across the busy Ventura Freeway into an adjacent neighborhood south of Pierce College.

Police closed the Ventura Freeway for two hours and required all residents living north of the freeway between Winnetka and DeSoto avenues to show identification when entering or leaving the neighborhood.

The men reportedly walked into the Southern California Savings bank at 20259 Ventura Boulevard about 11 a.m. and ordered employees and customers onto the floor in what authorities call a takeover robbery. “It’s usually very violent,” said Laura Bosley, an FBI spokeswoman. “Everyone in the bank was held hostage while they were there.”

Bosley said one gunman pulled a teller by her hair. “Give me all your money, bitch,” he told her. “Don’t give me any dye pack or I’ll come back and kill you.”

Another ordered a teller from the floor, saying “Where’s the ATM money? You’ve got five seconds or you’re dead. If you don’t hurry up, I’ll kill you.”

When the men walked from the bank moments later, they were met by Los Angeles police detectives who had arrived on the scene.

Police fired four shots, missing the gunmen.

“I saw the police car pull up and these cops wearing bullet-proof vests just started shooting without warning,” said an employee of a nearby travel agency. “They didn’t say ‘Stop!’ or ‘Put your hands up!’ or anything like that. They just started blasting away with shotguns.”

The shots shattered a window to an adjacent photographer’s gallery and blew several holes in another plastic business sign of a video production company. After the robbery, shotgun shell casings littered the sidewalk outside the bank.

Another woman whose office window fronts the bank entrance in a courtyard of the Woodcourt business complex said she looked up from her desk to see two armed men run from the bank, one wearing a multicolored, Rasta-style wool cap and the other a Florida Marlins baseball cap.

“I heard the shots and I saw the men scatter,” said the woman, who would not give her name. “Then I didn’t look anymore. I was too busy looking for a place to hide.”

Authorities said the men disappeared into the office complex and apparently crossed the freeway directly north of the building. By noon, dozens of officers had arrived, changing from T-shirts and sneakers into bullet-proof jumpsuits.

At one time, three police helicopters circled the bank and search dogs were brought to the scene. On the courtyard sidewalk outside the bank entrance, the robbers left behind the baseball cap, as well as a pillow case and safety deposit box.

In addition to the busy freeway, officers also closed down the westbound lanes of Ventura Boulevard between Winnetka and DeSoto avenues, backing up traffic in both directions.

Authorities describe both of the robbers as black males. One was between 27 and 30, 5 feet 11, with a medium build. He was wearing blue jeans, a nylon stocking mask and black leather gloves. The second was between 24 and 26, six feet, with a stocky build.