West Seattle Crime Watch: Bank robbery in Admiral

12:27 PM: Police are investigating a bank robbery that happened a short time ago at the Umpqua Bank branch just north of Admiral Safeway. Scanner traffic indicates the robber gave tellers a note; no weapon was seen. We only have a partial description so far – dark shirt, jeans, multi-colored bag, last seen walking south on California SW, might have then gone on to a 4-door champagne-colored compact car. If you have any information, call 911.

1:07 PM: No word of an arrest yet; no additional descriptive information, either, but we’re trying. Checking our archives, this is the first West Seattle bank robbery in more than a year; last one was north of The Junction in May 2014.

16 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Bank robbery in Admiral"

  • WestSide45 August 8, 2015 (1:06 pm)

    I knew the Blog would know. We have been watching the activity from across the street and wondered why there would be three SPD units on site. Figured it was more than a Safeway shoplift.

  • JanS August 8, 2015 (1:14 pm)

    I’m so sorry to hear this. I bank there (almost right across the street from me), and the tellers there are great, open and friendly. But, no bank is safe, really. Glad no weapons were used, or at least seen, and heaven forbid, used. :(

  • cjboffoli August 8, 2015 (1:41 pm)

    Oh no! Everyone is so nice there. I’m sorry they had to go through that.

  • tm7302 August 8, 2015 (2:08 pm)

    What about the perp’s race and gender?

    • WSB August 8, 2015 (3:05 pm)

      TM, we don’t know, or I would have included it. Even being here at the Delridge Day festival with police reps, and going to the scene (where police were IN the bank), we couldn’t get anything more than what we’ve published.

  • sc August 8, 2015 (2:26 pm)

    I know the Wells-Fargo bank nearby has been robbed a few times. Someone said it’s because there is easy access out of West Seattle from that location to the freeway.

  • Seattlite August 8, 2015 (2:29 pm)

    I don’t bank there and have never been inside. I was wondering if the bank has that protective glass around the teller’s work stations. All the Chase banks have the protective glass.

  • Scuba Frog August 8, 2015 (4:45 pm)

    TOTAL bummer. That branch is fantastic and they’re very nice there.

  • WSobserver August 8, 2015 (5:03 pm)

    Who robs a bank -on Saturday- ??

  • JanS August 8, 2015 (5:34 pm)

    nope…no protective glass

  • JanS August 8, 2015 (5:35 pm)

    sc….easy way out of West Seattle….except during rush hour in the morning ;-)

  • Bradley August 9, 2015 (11:59 am)

    Male? Female? Race? Height? Age? Hair color? Glasses? What are we looking for besides a pile of clothing?

    • WSB August 9, 2015 (1:47 pm)

      Is my comment above not showing? Again, we do NOT know. Every single shred of information we have about this is above. I won’t be able to access the full report until tomorrow, if then. I will also be asking the FBI – which also handles bank robberies last I checked (and again, it’s been almost a year and a half since we had one in West Seattle) – if a surveillance photo is available. Thanks.

  • Bradley August 9, 2015 (7:11 pm)

    @WSB: my frustration wasn’t directed at you, but the SPD for not releasing more than clothing data right away. I’m sure witnesses described more than clothing to the responding officers. The public at-large is in danger when a fresh robbery has just occurred in our community and the perp is on the loose.

    • WSB August 9, 2015 (7:44 pm)

      I don’t have time to explain the long and convoluted story of how difficult it is to get information, especially on a weekend, but to your point, if you are interpreting this as SPD only “releasing” clothing info … that is not the case. It’s just all we were able to get, via a fragment off the scanner. We tried other ways, as mentioned, but could not. Getting information from police in real time is tremendously difficult – even if you go to the scene; in this case, the only officer(s) at the scene when co-publisher Patrick broke away from the festival and headed there, were in the bank, behind closed doors. If this had happened on a weekday, we would have likely been able to get more, via the media-relations office, but they are on call for major life-safety-type incidents only, on weekends. – TR

  • WSB August 11, 2015 (5:08 pm)

    Semi-update – neither SPD nor the FBI will release more information at this point (we’ve talked to both). If that changes, we’ll publish a followup story … TR

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