Last month, the FBI reported that the Washington area typically sees a surge in bank robberies in December and warned potential robbers that law enforcement would be on the alert.
However, it appeared last week that such warnings are not always taken to heart.
At least five banks were robbed: four in Virginia and one in Maryland, according to official accounts.
The most recent robbery was reported Friday in Alexandria. A man walked into the Burke & Herbert Bank in the 100 block of North Paxton Street, showed a gun and demanded money. Alexandria police said he fled the bank, which is near Shirley Highway and Holmes Run, with an undisclosed amount.
Also in Alexandria, the Wells Fargo branch in the Old Town area, in the 300 block of North Washington Street, was robbed Wednesday by a man who went up to a teller, “threatened a weapon” and passed a note demanding money, the police said.
In a separate incident Wednesday, a bank was robbed just before 2 p.m. in the 11900 block of Freedom Drive in the Reston Town Center area of Fairfax County, police said.
The Maryland robbery was reported in Montgomery County around noon Tuesday, at the M&T Bank branch in the 10400 block of Montgomery Avenue.
In that robbery, like Friday’s in Alexandria, the robber showed a handgun, demanded money and fled with an undisclosed amount.
In the fifth incident, a bank was robbed Monday in the 7100 block of Leesburg Pike in Fairfax County, police said.
The FBI said they thought the man who robbed the bank in Old Town also robbed two other area banks recently. In the more recent of the two, they said, money was taken Dec. 4 from the Premier Bank on 17th Street NW, in the District’s Dupont Circle area.
During the past two years, according to the FBI, a quarter of all bank robberies in the District and Northern Virginia have taken place in December. In addition, the FBI said, the number in those jurisdictions tripled in that month. Last December, 17 were reported, the FBI said.
The bureau said it was actively sharing that information to raise public awareness and to “warn individuals who may be inclined” to rob banks or try to.