Two weeks later, no arrests in grenade robbery of Renton bank

March 13, 2009 5:21 pm
The FBI and Renton Police Department are still looking for this woman
The FBI and Renton Police Department are still looking for this woman

Nearly two weeks have passed since the Washington Mutual bank branch inside the Renton Center Fred Meyer was robbed. But the woman and man suspected of committing the robbery have not been caught.

Renton Police Department’s investigation is ongoing.

The FBI released a photograph of the woman, described as white and in her 30s, 5-feet-3 inches tall and of medium build. She has brown hair and was wearing a brown hat, police have said.

The robbery occurred at about 10:30 a.m. on March 13, when a woman showed a bank teller what appeared to be a hand grenade and then demanded an undisclosed amount of money, said Robbie Burroughs, a spokesperson for the Seattle Division of the FBI.

The teller gave the woman money from her drawer and the woman then ran out to the parking lot, where a dye pack with the money exploded, Burroughs said.

The money was not recovered by police, said Paul Cline, spokesperson for the Renton Police Department.

According to the FBI, the woman was seen fleeing the area with a black man, who Burroughs said may have been an accomplice.

Cline said he doesn’t know if the robbery is related to a similar robbery March 18 in Portland, Ore.

According to Portland.com, a Washington Mutual Bank branch in a Portland Fred Meyer was robbed at about 10:35 a.m. that morning by two people. As in the Renton robbery, one of the suspects stayed outside the store while the other demanded the undisclosed amount of money.

One of the suspects was detained by Portland police at the crime scene. The second suspect escaped. No weapons were reported.

The March 13 robbery was the third in Renton in just two months. The first was Feb. 2 at US Bank on Northeast Sunset Boulevard and the second on Feb. 12 at Banner Bank on Rainier Avenue South. A 19-year-old man was charged in the Feb. 2 robbery. An Auburn man was arrested after the Feb. 12 robbery, after a customer chased the man and held him in a bear hug until police arrived.

“With this economic situation we’re probably going to see a little more of it,” Cline said of robberies.

To report information about the March 13 robbery, contact Renton Police Department at 425-430-7500 or the FBI at 206-622-0460.