Friday, September 26, 2003

Bank across Fayette-Clayton line robbed Monday morning

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking for a man who fired his pistol to take over a Riverdale branch bank Monday morning during a robbery, causing customers to dive for cover.

The robber stormed the Bank of America branch at 2225 Ga. Highway 138 in Riverdale, just across the Fayette County line Monday at 10:15 a.m., FBI officials said. The suspect fired a shot into the ceiling and ordered everyone in the bank to the floor, police said.

The robber, who was wearing a dark mask and sweat pants, vaulted over the teller counter and went to an unoccupied teller position but found no cash, according to a news release from the Atlanta office of the FBI. "He then went to another, and possible two other, teller positions where he grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing on foot," the FBI said.

The entire heist took less than 30 seconds and no one was hurt, according to the FBI. The suspect is described as a thin black male in his 20s.

Investigators recovered a single spent 9mm shell casing at the scene, officials said.

The bank is located about a half-mile east of the intersection of Ga. highways 279 and 138 on the northern border of Fayette County and just inside Clayton County. The robbery location is within one mile of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School.

Anyeone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Atlanta Field Office of the FBI at 404-679-9000. A reward is offered.