Armed robbery at First Federal Savings Bank

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Police responded to the scene of an  armed bank robbery at First Federal Savings at 5317 South Bend Drive on Wednesday.  It was the second bank robbery Fort Wayne police responded to this week.

Public Information Officer Raquel Foster said a man entered the bank at about 9:08 a.m. on Wednesday. Police said the man appeared to be preoccupied with a paper document he was holding. Police believe this was in order to avoid having his face captured by surveillance.

The man went up to the counter, pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and brandished a gun at two tellers.

Another man then entered the bank and also demanded money from the two bank employees.

The men left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Officials are currently working on obtaining a description of the getaway vehicle and investigating the possibility of video surveillance coverage.

There were two employees in the bank at the time of the robbery. There were no customers in the bank. No injuries were reported.

Officials are also searching for fingerprints. They are hopeful that, since the robbery occurred shortly after the bank opened at 9:00 a.m., there will be a limited number of prints.

"It's possible that counter is really very clear," Foster said.  "If the cleaning staff visited the night before and cleaned off that counter, we got a clean surface.  No other fingerprints are going to be on that count except for hopefully your perpetrator." 

This is the eighth time this year police have been called to the scene of a bank robbery. This is also the second bank robbery this week. Detectives are not ruling out the possibility that the two robberies may be connected but at this time there is not enough evidence to determine whether they are or not.

"We know that if  we see one, we will see another," Foster said.  "And we may see a series of them."

Police ask that any suspicious activity or people be immediately reported to the police.

"What we know is that as our criminals, our bank robbers, are successful, they will continue to perfect their method of operation," Foster said.  "Any individuals that seem suspicious to them that might be acting suspicious in nature, they should not hesitate  to make a call to 911.  The earlier we can provide a response, it's going to provide us with a head start."

This incident remains under investigation by the Northeast Indiana Bank Robbery Task Force.  This task force is composed of investigators with the City of Fort Wayne Police Department, Allen County Sheriff Department, Indiana State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.