Bank robbery suspect sought

Three Coeur d’Alene schools were locked down Monday morning as police searched for a man who allegedly robbed the Spokane Teachers Credit Union at the Crossroads Center on the 2700 block of N. Ramsey Road.

Barb Richey, a spokeswoman for STCU, said a person, later identified as a male, wearing a blue jacket, a black stocking cap, a light-colored scarf and red gloves, robbed the branch around 9:40 a.m. and fled on foot across the Crossroads Center parking lot.

“We are grateful no one was injured,” Richey said. “Our Crossroads team handled the incident calmly and professionally.”

The bank did not release further information.

The FBI is investigating the incident, she said. Monday’s robbery was the second in the Ramsey Road corridor in a month. The FBi is investigating both incidents.

According to Coeur d’Alene Police, the white man who entered STCU Monday morning is between 20 and 30 years old and and approximately 5 foot 9 inches tall with a thin to medium build. After entering the bank, he gave a teller a note demanding money.

Once he received an undisclosed amount of cash, the man fled. He was last seen running northeast across the parking lot of WinCo.

Police said he was wearing blue pants, a gray scarf and a dark-colored, beanie-type hat. Two bank surveillance photographs show what appears to be a gaunt man with a birthmark on his left cheek.

The branch closed immediately after the robbery, Richey said. It remained closed until today.

Police asked schools in the area including Ramsey and Skyway elementary schools and Woodland Middle School to keep students inside as they searched for the suspect.

The Coeur d’Alene School District, which released information to parents and student family members called the lockdown a “shelter in place.”

A “shelter in place” is a procedure in which students are held indoors, inside their classrooms much like a regular lockdown, according to an email released by the district.

“However, the purpose of the shelter in place is to protect students and staff from hazards to health or life,” according to the district. “It is used to keep them inside when conditions outside pose a threat to their health and safety.”

Shelters in place are used in times of extreme weather and natural disasters and are intended to secure students within a building, while the buildings remain accessible.

“Inside activity may still exist, to include changing classrooms,” according to the email.

The lockdown was lifted by 11:15 a.m.

A month ago, Coeur d’Alene Police responded to the Mountain West Bank located at 1715 W. Kathleen Ave. for a reported bank robbery. Police said a man entered the bank, located about a mile north of the Crossroads Center, around 12:54 p.m. Feb. 10, and also slipped a note to the teller demanding money. The white or Hispanic man between 20 and 30 years old was given an undisclosed amount of cash and fled.

No further information has been provided on the Mountain West robbery. An investigation on both incidents is pending.

Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call the FBI’s Coeur d’Alene office at 208-664-5128.