Bank Robbery Holds Up Traffic
A bank robbery caused traffic jams on Ventura Boulevard on Thursday afternoon as last-minute shoppers tried to get to stores.
Shortly before 4 p.m., a man walked into California Bank & Trust in the 15200 block of the boulevard and gave one of the tellers a threatening note.
“He didn’t show a gun or anything like that,” said Sgt. Brian Wendling of the Van Nuys station of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It was just a demand note.’
After getting $2,300, the man walked out of the bank, Wendling said, but he didn’t seem to have a good plan for making a getaway. He fled on foot, seemingly trying to make his way to a parking lot behind the businesses by running into a nearby shop.
“The people in the shop yelled at him, ‘What are you doing here?’ and he ran out again,” Wendling said.
When police arrived, they closed off Ventura Boulevard between Sepulveda Boulevard and Nobel Avenue, just east of the San Diego Freeway, to search for him.
After two hours of searching in vain, the police reopened Ventura Boulevard, Wendling said.
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