A masked man walked into an Empire State Bank branch in Bay Ridge on Saturday, demanded cash from a teller and ran off with $1,600, according to police. No weapon was shown and no one was hurt during the robbery, which happened just after 12:30 p.m. at the bank's branch on Third Avenue.
According to News12, the robbery took place at the Empire State Bank location at 8701 Third Avenue, citing the NYPD. Investigators told the outlet the suspect, described as a man in his 30s, entered the bank and demanded money directly from a teller, who handed over the cash.
Police described the suspect as approximately six feet tall with short blonde hair, last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and a black medical mask, and carrying a black plastic bag, per the NYPD's description relayed by the station. Detectives said he fled the bank and ran northbound on Third Avenue with the money still in hand.
No Weapon Shown, No One Hurt
Investigators emphasized that the suspect did not display a weapon during the encounter, and no injuries were reported as a result of the robbery. Police are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
The Bay Ridge heist is the latest in a string of bank robberies that have hit Brooklyn institutions over the past year, though the circumstances have varied widely from case to case. In March, a gunman walked into an Empire State Bank branch in nearby Bensonhurst, pointed a firearm at a front-desk clerk and made off with roughly $7,000, according to a Hoodline report at the time, which noted no arrests had been made and the investigation remained ongoing.
A Pattern of Bay Ridge Bank Heists
Bay Ridge itself has seen this kind of crime before. A robbery at a TD Bank near Fourth Avenue and 99th Street unfolded in a similar fashion, with a masked suspect passing a note demanding cash rather than displaying a weapon, and the teller complying by turning over an unspecified sum, according to Bklyner.
Another Bay Ridge robbery, reported by The Brooklyn Home Reporter, saw a suspect walk into a bank near 78th Street and Fifth Avenue and leave with $550 after a teller handed over the cash; that incident also left no one injured. These past cases, taken together, underscore how often tellers across the neighborhood have faced the same tense scenario: a masked stranger, a demand for cash, and a quick escape on foot.
No arrest has been announced in connection with Saturday's robbery at the Third Avenue branch, and the NYPD has not released further details on the investigation's status. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
