Ryan Chartrand
Click here to see an audio slideshow showing the sights and sounds after the robbery.
Police are searching for a man who allegedly robbed the First Bank of San Luis Obispo and walked out the front door on Higuera Street Thursday afternoon.
Police officers arrived on the scene after receiving a call at 2:40 p.m. from a bank employee who reported that the bank had been robbed. Officers said they were unable to find the suspect after searching the area, and no one was injured during the robbery.
The suspect, who police described as being either a Caucasian or Hispanic male in his 30s or 40s, reportedly entered the bank and gave the teller a note demanding money. The teller gave him the money and he then left the bank and headed southbound on Osos Street, police said. He was not reported to have been carrying any weapon.
The suspect is described as wearing a white or light-colored baseball hat, a khaki shirt and a white jacket, police said. He is reportedly 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 and about 170 pounds, and was also wearing a fake goatee, sideburns, white gloves, sunglasses and possibly a wig.
Pedestrians walking around downtown San Luis Obispo were startled when they saw police officers hiding behind trees with guns that appeared to be assault rifles.
“I was just walking down the street and I was about to start walking alongside the building and I saw two cops running along the fence,” passerby Vanessa Porterson, 25, said. “I tried to ask a cop, ‘Should I not walk that way? I need to go that way,’ and he just wouldn’t answer me.”
Ginger Cochran, 22, was also at the scene and also said she had difficulty finding out what was happening.
“Police weren’t talking to pedestrians so we didn’t know what was going on,” Cochran said.
Officials said they have no reason to believe the robbery is related to the bank robbery last week at Downey Savings. The San Luis Obispo Police Department and the FBI are still investigating the case.
Kristen Cass contributed to this report.