Citizen Staff Writer
CARLI BROSSEAU
brosseau@tucsoncitizen.com
Wells Fargo is offering $10,000 for information leading to convictions in a string of recent bank robberies, a Tucson police spokesman said Friday.
All four robberies were conducted “take-down-style” by armed men, Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said. The bank tellers and customers were forced to the floor at gunpoint.
In three cases, the men wore dark-colored ski masks that covered their faces.
The first robbery happened Nov. 1 at the Wells Fargo branch at 7171 E. Tanque Verde Road, Pacheco said.
One man held the people inside the bank on the floor at gunpoint while the other hopped over the counter, Pacheco said.
He said the two made away with an undisclosed amount of money in a 2006 Honda Civic that had been carjacked the day before in the 300 block of South Wilmot Road.
On Nov. 30, a man carrying a pistol-grip shotgun walked into the Wells Fargo branch at 8315 E. Broadway, Pacheco said. He put the money he demanded from the tellers into a bag and ran east down an alley.
Tucson Health Care Credit Union was the next victim. The credit union, 5280 E. Grant Road, was robbed Dec. 12 by a masked man who escaped with cash in a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder that had been carjacked in the 1600 block of North Country Club Road the day before, Pacheco said.
Then on Dec. 17, a man without a mask who was armed with a large revolver robbed a Wells Fargo branch at 1370 N. Silverbell Road, Pacheco said. The man, described as 20 to 30 years old, 5 foot 4 to 5 foot 6 and 140 to 150 pounds, fled on foot. Pacheco said witnesses saw him go west.
Pacheco said police are especially worried about the robberies because of the violence involved.
“We want to catch them before it escalates to a tragedy,” he said.
Anyone with information should call 911 or 88-CRIME.