3 Arrested in Bank Robbery

Three gunmen stormed inside a busy Newbury Park bank Wednesday and stole an undisclosed amount of cash, but the trio were arrested a short time later after a police pursuit on the Ventura Freeway, authorities said.

The robbery occurred shortly after 10 a.m. at a Washington Mutual branch in the 400 block of South Reino Road, Ventura County sheriff’s officials said.

The masked gunmen each wore security guard-type outfits, which included white shirts emblazoned with blue patches, and ordered customers and employees to get down on the floor, authorities said.

After taking the cash, the men fled in a newer-model black Chevrolet Impala with dark, tinted windows. The car was found abandoned a few blocks from the bank, authorities said.

The three men who were arrested were pulled over in a maroon Buick, authorities said.

It’s believed that the men -- who, authorities said, matched descriptions of the robbers -- switched vehicles after leaving the bank.

The three men were arrested after they were seen driving south on the Ventura Freeway near Topanga Canyon Boulevard, sheriff’s officials said.

The bank robbery was the third in Ventura County in less than a week.

On Tuesday morning, a masked man robbed a Midstate Bank branch on Gonzales Road in Oxnard. The robber, who did not display a gun, was wearing a dark, hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, sunglasses and a dark baseball cap, authorities said.

And on Friday, the county’s only other armed robbery this year occurred at Bank of the West on Victoria Avenue in Ventura.

Authorities were investigating whether the same robber was responsible for the heists in Oxnard and Ventura.