(6:07 PM UPDATE: Seattle Police have released their official summary. Adding that, and more photos, below)
ORIGINAL 3:50 PM REPORT: Police are at Viking Bank in The Junction – and nearby – looking for bank robbers. Seattle Police say three people robbed the bank. According to Officer Renée Witt in the media-response unit, they were described as possibly armed, three Hispanic men in their 20s, medium build, one wearing a red bandanna, black or dark hoodie, with black sweat pants.
3:57 PM UPDATE: Just added a photo. And yes, that’s what the helicopter is doing over The Junction.
4:30 PM UPDATE: The FBI is on scene as well as Seattle Police, since they have jurisdiction in bank robberies. Multiple witnesses report that some evidence was found, but there is no word of arrests. No injuries either, in case you were wondering.
(This photos and others below, all by Christopher Boffoli for WSB unless otherwise credited)
4;49 PM UPDATE: There have been anecdotal reports that some area schools’ afterschool programs sheltered in place while the search was on. We’re having trouble getting anyone on the phone to confirm this – but in case you are worried, know that NO INJURIES ARE REPORTED ANYWHERE as a result of the robbery or the search. Meantime, according to what Christopher Boffoli photographed, they left significant evidence behind:
5:05 PM UPDATE: Teresa Wippel from Seattle Public Schools confirms that Madison Middle School did decide to have the students who were still on campus “shelter in place” – some were outside when the school heard about the robbery, and the school decided – it was a unilateral decision, not a police order – to bring them in. Wippel says they also called the parents of students who would usually go home by themselves, and they escorted students to school buses.
6:07 PM UPDATE: Police have just published their summary of the robbery at SPD Blotter. Click ahead to see it in full, along with more of our photos:
On May 19th at approximately 3:33 p.m. officers responded to reports of a bank robbery in the 4000 block of SW Alaska Street. Preliminary investigation indicates that three masked suspects armed with handguns entered the bank and held the employees at bay while the suspects emptied the cash drawers and then fled the scene on foot.
Nobody was injured and no customers were in the bank at the time of the robbery. Responding officers conducted an area search however, the suspects remain at large.
The Safe Streets Task Force (a joint SPD-FBI task force) will be conducting the follow up investigation.
Anyone with information about this incident or who may know the identities or whereabouts of any of the suspects is asked to call 911 or the Seattle Police Robbery Unit at (206) 684-5535 and refer to this incident.
Adree-Rose shared this view of police in her alley, early in the search:
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