Local bank robbed, gunman at large

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Authorities are on the lookout for a gunman who held up a bank in Carpinteria yesterday afternoon.
Sheriff’s deputies cordoned off the Bank of America branch at 4994 Carpinteria Ave. after reports of a man brandishing a black handgun at a teller and fleeing the scene, Lt. Butch Arnoldi said.

“He was out the door when she hit the alarm and the people in the bank didn’t even know anything had happened,” he said.
Authorities described the suspect as a Hispanic man in his 40s with a fake moustache and goatee, brown hair and surgical gloves, adding that he also sported dark glasses, a black cap and a plaid shirt.
“The dye packed exploded out on the sidewalk, as it is designed to do, so he got a little dye on him,” Lt. Arnoldi said. “…Some of the money was located at the scene where the dye pack exploded.”
The robber reportedly made his getaway west on Carpinteria Avenue in a maroon, four-door sedan, he said. A police helicopter circled the scene but did not spot the suspect.
Lt. Arnoldi said the Sheriff’s Department was still waiting for surveillance photos from the bank’s security cameras to be processed by the FBI’s Los Angeles office yesterday evening. Anyone with additional information on the holdup should contact the Sheriff’s Department.