Sheriffs Office On High Alert For "AK-47 Bandit"

Sgt. Katie Larson of the King County Sheriffs Office issued the following Friday:

On 07/06/2012 the depicted take-over robber got away with an undisclosed amount of cash from this stand-alone Chase Bank branch in North Bend. The suspect was armed with an AK-style rifle with attached drum magazine. He had a deep loud voice with no obvious accent. He threatened to shoot tellers if they did not hurry. This robbery occurred at closing time (6pm).

The suspect parked his vehicle directly in front of the bank making no attempt to hide it. The vehicle is described as a reddish-orange, very dirty/dusty, Jeep product (perhaps Liberty or Patriot). It may have out-of-state license plates with a prominent blue stripe across the top of the plates. The spare tire was rear mounted and the cover may have a multi-colored design.

The suspect is considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.

A surveillance video of the North Bend Chase Bank robbery has been released and can be viewed by clicking the video above.

**Detectives in King County and California have noted similarities to an unsolved California bank robbery series from early 2012. That robber has been dubbed “The AK-47 Bandit”. He shot a Chino Police Department patrol officer who had responded to their robbery.

Please forward any information to King County Sheriff’s Office Detective Mike Mellis at 206-263-2086 or call 911.