Four suspects continued to evade police two days after an armed bank robbery in Riverside Tuesday morning.

Six people were inside the Bank of America, 3300 S. Harlem Ave., during the early morning raid, which drew numerous police departments, along with FBI and SWAT teams. Although handguns were drawn and pointed at bank employees, no injuries were reported.

Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said reports started coming in around 9:30 a.m. about a possible bank robbery, with witnesses saying employees were spread out on the bank floor.

Officials spoke with someone claiming to be the bank manager, who later was taken into custody until the manager’s identity was proven.

“He said he never saw (the offenders) leave,” Weitzel said. “(Northern Illinois Police Alarm System) was called, emergency SWAT was called to do a floor-to-floor search. They are better equipped to do that, but no offenders were found.”

A NIPAS team arrived at the scene just after 11:30 a.m. Other responding police departments included Schaumburg, Bartlett, Streamwood, North Riverside, McHenry, River Grove, Palatine and Berkeley.

The three offenders who entered the building were wearing ski masks and brandishing handguns, Riverside Detective Sgt. David Krull said. A fourth person was waiting in a getaway vehicle outside the bank, which police discovered after reviewing bank security footage.

“Upon looking at the security video, we were able to see it was parked directly across from the front doors,” Krull said. “All three fled the building and (entered) the vehicle.”

The vehicle is described as a silver four-door “boxy” car similar to a Nissan Altima. Krull said police are working to enhance the video to get a description of the driver and, possibly, the license plate number.

“That’s a possibility,” he said. “But I don’t know if (the car) even had (a plate).”
Weitzel said the monetary amount missing had not yet been determined. He also confirmed

Blythe Elementary School was locked down for a few hours in case the offenders fled on foot with handguns and a chase occurred.

Berwyn firefighter Tom Hayes, president of Union Local 506, said firefighters were called out Tuesday morning to provide a quint — a type of fire department vehicle that also has ladders — at Connie’s, a Berwyn restaurant at Harlem and Stanley avenues. Hayes said they needed to put ladders up against the building so members of the SWAT team could access the roof.

Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said officers provided initial tactical support by helping conduct rooftop surveillance on the bank from their perch atop Connie’s restaurant.

“We had a sniper team up on the roof of Connie’s. We had the scopes (on sniper rifles) to get a visual of the second floor (of the Riverside bank) to see if anyone was holding hostages,” Kushner said. “Any kind of intelligence we can have in a situation like that the better.

“There was nothing definitive,” he said. “Now we believe what they saw was the employees and patrons inside the bank.”

Special Agent Ross Rice said the case is under investigation. The FBI is searching for four suspects and no charges have been filed.

Reporters Janice Hoppe, Danya Hooker and Kristen Zambo contributed to this report.