The FBI is noticing a spike in metro Atlanta bank robberies, which the agency said tends to occur around the holiday season.
The agency was seeking the public’s help Wednesday in catching several robbers who hit two more metro Atlanta banks in recent days. The crimes were the latest in a string of robberies at various banks throughout the year.
“Law enforcement around this time of year normally does see a spike in bank robberies due to the holiday and what might be considered an increase in economic pressures that the holiday brings,” FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
The most recent targets have been SunTrust in Gainesville and First Third Bank in Duluth, but Wells Fargo, Best Bank and PNC branches also have been held up in recent months. Efforts were made to reach several targeted banks for comment.
Emmett wouldn’t say how many of the robberies have taken place or how many robbers have been captured. He also could not say whether more holdups occurred at any specific time of day.
No injuries have been reported in recent incidents, the FBI agent said.
“In the majority of the bank robberies, the robbers come in and leave without any injuries,” Emmett said, but he added the incidents can take an emotional toll on tellers and others inside the bank.
On Tuesday, two robbers, one armed with an assault rifle and making a reference to a home foreclosure, held up a SunTrust Bank in Hall County. Authorities said the suspects entered a SunTrust in the 1400 block of Thompson Bridge Road in Gainesville around 4:45 p.m. The suspect armed with the assault rifle demanded money, and he and the other man jumped over the teller counter and took an undisclosed amount of cash, authorities said. The men then fled the bank.
The two white suspects, considered armed and dangerous, were described as being in their mid-20s to early 30s, medium build and medium height. Emmett said it is a “rare occurrence” to see robbers brandishing an assault rifle as in the Gainesville robbery.
Anyone with information on the SunTrust robbery is asked to call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
The target of the second bank robbery was a Fifth Third Bank inside a Kroger grocery store in Duluth. On Dec. 8, a lone robber entered the Kroger on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and handed the Fifth Third teller a note demanding money. He also indicated he had a weapon, although one was not seen, authorities said.
The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of money. He is described as being a black or Hispanic male with hazel eyes and weighing about 350 pounds.
Anyone with information on the First Third Bank robbery is asked to call the Duluth Police Department at 770-476-4151 or the FBI Atlanta office at 404-679-9000.
The Fifth Third Bank robber is also suspected in a Roswell robbery in January. “The FBI tries to dedicate its limited resources toward the more egregious armed bank robberies, but certainly when these individuals rob again and again and are considered serial robbers it becomes more of an effort for us,” Emmett said.
The FBI agent encouraged individuals “to be a little more vigilant during this time the year as they do their shopping and as they do their banking.”
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