Armed Robber Takes Cash From Bank

A man armed with a handgun robbed a busy branch of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust in Camarillo on Thursday afternoon.

The robbery occurred about 3 p.m. in a strip mall at 5000 Santa Rosa Road, Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said. No one was injured, and the robber remained at large late Thursday.

According to authorities, the robber walked into the bank with a backpack draped over his arm. He approached a teller, pulled a gun from his waistband and waved it in the air while demanding money, Parks said.

The robber left on foot after stealing an undisclosed amount of cash from two tellers. At the time of the robbery, there were several customers and employees in the bank, Parks said.

“The customers basically got out of his way and then he walked out,” Parks said.

The robber fled north through the parking lot and over a block wall and was last seen running through the parking area of a nearby apartment complex.

Deputies stopped three men in the area who matched the suspect’s description but each was released, Parks said.

The robber was described as a light-skinned black man between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-10, and may have had a beard. He was wearing a dark shirt and pants and was thought to be in his mid-20s.

Officials from the FBI, which handles all bank robberies, refused to say whether the robbery was captured on surveillance cameras at the bank.