Heavily Armed Robbers Hold Up Fourth Area Bank

A gang of robbers brandishing military-style assault weapons held up a Prince George's County bank yesterday, marking the fourth time this year that the group has struck in the area, authorities said.

The robbers escaped with about $18,000, bringing their take this year to more than $300,000, authorities said. In all four robberies, the bandits were well armed, wore masks and acted with extreme precision, they said.

It has been years since a gang of bank robbers has been so heavily armed and has raised as much concern among area law enforcement officials, authorities said. No one has been seriously hurt, though the robbers yesterday assaulted a bank employee, who suffered minor neck bruises, they said.

No gunshots were fired yesterday, authorities said. Concern about the gang was heightened two weeks ago when the bandits opened fire for the first time, just missing a Prince George's officer who had rushed to the scene of the robbery, they said.

The gang has struck twice in the District and twice in Prince George's, authorities said.

The heavy firepower, rarely seen in area bank robberies, has law enforcement officials warning about the possibility that a bank employee, customer or police officer could be seriously hurt.

D.C. police Capt. Michael Reese, whose department is working with the FBI and Prince George's police on the cases, said the gang has displayed more sophistication than typical bank robbers. Authorities said the holdups also are netting far more cash than most bank robberies -- an average of about $75,000 a heist, compared with the national average of $5,000.

"They were synchronized," Reese said of the robbers. "There was some level of planning. They probably practiced together . . . . These are pretty serious guys."

Yesterday's episode unfolded shortly before noon at the Chevy Chase Bank branch in the 5800 block of Riggs Road in Chillum. Three masked men in dark trench coats walked into the bank carrying assault weapons and ordered everyone to get on the floor, police said. The robbers went behind the counter and filled up bags with cash, police said.

Witnesses said that the robbers yelled, "Don't move, don't panic, no one will get hurt." The bandits demanded that tellers open the safe, but the employees insisted they did not have access, the witnesses said.

After seven minutes inside the bank, the robbers fled in a minivan, which was later found torched in the 600 block of Kansas Avenue in Takoma Park. Authorities said they found a second torched vehicle, an Acura Legend, in the 3100 block of Elm Street NE. Authorities said they believe the Acura also played a part in the crime.

People inside the bank during the robbery included a 78-year-old woman who said that the robbers were "just a bunch of no-good people."

The tactics yesterday fit the pattern of the earlier crimes, authorities said. In two earlier robberies, the bandits ditched getaway cars and torched them, they said. In another instance, they abandoned a getaway car but did not set it afire, they said.

The first of the robberies was the morning of Jan. 22, when five men stormed into a Bank of America branch at 10:10 a.m. in the 5900 block of Blair Road NW. After quickly subduing an armed guard, the men barked out profanity-laced orders, telling people to lie on the floor and demanding cash, said Detective Gail Brown, a bank robbery investigator with the D.C. police.