Santa Ana Robber Is Briefly Chased

A bank robber who quickly fled a Wells Fargo Bank in Santa Ana on Monday was briefly followed by a nearby resident who believed the man may have robbed a neighbor’s home.

The robber entered the bank at Main Street and Warner Avenue about 11 a.m. Shouting and with gun in hand, he announced the robbery to the bank’s 20 customers, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna said.

The gunman jumped over the teller counter and emptied several cash drawers before racing out of the bank, across a parking lot, over a block wall and to a residential tract where he had left a getaway car.

A neighborhood resident leaped into his own car to follow the robber, not knowing he had robbed a bank but suspecting he had been up to some kind of criminal activity. The neighbor eventually had to give up the chase without obtaining a license plate number. The car was described only as an older, white compact.

The robber was described as a black male, 5 feet 6 inches tall, in his 20s. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses and gloves.

A customer who was initially believed to have had a heart attack was treated by paramedics at the scene and released.

“Obviously this guy was well-organized and had the crime planned out,” Luna said. “I don’t know if it’s the excitement of robbing a bank, but bank robbers don’t get that much money. Banks have cameras and alarms. Then you have not only local police gathering evidence, you’ve got FBI after you. The penalties are federal and state charges.”