Would-Be Robber Threatens to Shoot Pasadena Bank Teller Before Fleeing, Empty-Handed

A would-be bank robber armed with a gun who threatened to shoot a teller because she panicked and couldn’t follow his demands ended up fleeing empty-handed out of a market bank location this morning.

Pasadena Police Lieutenant John Mercado said that at 11:54 a.m., the robber passed a note to a teller at the U.S. Bank inside the Vons at 2355 East Colorado Boulevard.

The note demanded money and said the man was robbing the bank.

Extremely fearful, the teller had difficulty in fulfilling the robber’s demands. Mercado said the suspect became frustrated, pulled back his coat to reveal a silver handgun and told the teller he would shoot her if she did not comply quickly.

Mercado said that the teller’s colleague, seeing the look of panic on the teller’s face, came over to check on her, at which point the robber fled.

A Vons employee saw the man run out of the store. Assuming the man was a shoplifter, the Vons employee chased the suspect in the parking lot was able to see him enter a white sedan, which drove south on Sierra Madre Boulevard.