Crime Stoppers and Ottawa police hope a $2,000 reward will help them to solve two recent bank robberies.
The first occurred Feb. 5 at about 8:30 a.m. when a man walked into a bank on Montreal Road near Blair Road, gave the teller a note demanding money, then took a handgun out of his pocket. He made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. There were no injuries.
Suspect in Feb. 5, 2015, robbery.
The suspect was a black man with a dark complexion, in his mid to late 20s, and stood between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10. He work a black jacket, dark pants, black stretch gloves with rubber grips, a black scarf or balaclava, and a black hat. He spoke very quietly, with a stutter, in English.
Three days later, at about 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 8 at a branch in the 2300 block of St. Joseph Boulevard, a man presented a note demanding cash. He said he was armed, but no gun was seen. He fled empty-handed. There were no injuries.
The suspect in that robbery was a black man in his early 20s. He was skinny, about 5-foot-6, and wore a grey winter jacket with a hood, grey pants and a white or beige balaclava. He also carried a camouflage-pattern knapsack.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Tips are anonymous and callers receive a confidential ID number they can use to claim the reward if it leads to a conviction.
The $2,000 reward is the highest Crime Stoppers offers, an indication at how serious it views the crimes, said National Capital Area Crime Stoppers chairman Richard McMullen.
“We’re seeing a significant increase in the number of bank robberies,” McMullen said. “We’d like to see them stop, not only for the financial institutions, but for the average person who goes into a bank.”
