VIDEO: Cedar Rapids bank branch robbed

UPDATE: No one was hurt in an armed robbery at a bank along Mount Vernon Road SE this morning.

Six people, including a customer, were inside US Bank, 3401 Mount Vernon Rd. SE, when a man with a handgun walked in and demanded money around 10:40 a.m., police said. The man got an undisclosed amount of cash and ran south from the bank along 34th Street SE.

He may have cut back east behind the strip mall connected to True Value, police said.

At least one witness told police they saw a cream-colored 1980s car leaving the area at a high rate of speed shortly after the robbery.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman, said officers are not certain the suspect was in the car, but they were looking for cars matching that description. She said the car may have had a red stripe on the back, or it may have been the brake light.

Blue smoke was coming from the car as it sped away, Hamblin said.

The suspect is described as mixed-race or Hispanic, around 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 tall, with a medium build. He was wearing a black Carhartt-style coat, blue jeans and had a gray scarf wrapped around his head. He had a dark-colored handgun.

Hamblin said the bank will remain closed for the rest of the day. Officers were reviewing surveillance images and hoped to make them available to the media today.

Monday's robbery is the fifth holdup at a Cedar Rapids business in a little more than a month. On Feb. 11, a man robbed Community Savings Bank, which is across the street from the US Bank that was hit Monday. Police arrested the lone suspect in that case, Randy Copenhaver, 42, the next day.

The cases remain unsolved. Police are not sure if any of them are connected, Hamblin said.

“It's always a concern, whenever we have them,” Hamblin said. “It seems like there have been a lot of bank robberies, but in reality, it's been pretty steady.”

Anyone with information any of the robberies is asked to call 1-800-CR-CRIME.

RECENT ROBBERIES

• Feb. 11 - Community Savings Bank, 3414 Mount Vernon Rd. SE
• Feb. 17 - Linn Area Credit Union, 614 20th Ave. SW
• Feb. 23 - Advance Auto Parts, 3910 Center Point Rd. NE
• March 2 - Motel 6, 3325 Southgate Ct. SW
• March 15 - US Bank, 3401 Mount Vernon Rd. SE