The robbery of an Arlington County bank Monday morning, which caused two schools to be locked down for hours, was the third time a bank branch inside a grocery store has been targeted in recent weeks, police said.
Last week, a man ripped off a Provident Bank located inside a Shoppers Food Warehouse in Alexandria, which also had been targeted by a would-be robber on Aug. 29.
On Monday, Arlington County police said a man dressed in black entered the Chevy Chase Bank inside a Giant Foods store at 2901 S. Glebe Road around 10:30 a.m., implied he had a gun and made off with an undisclosed amount of money.
Oakridge Elementary School and Gunston Middle School were locked down as police searched for the suspect.
Bank robberies in general have climbed as the economy has tanked, said Charis Kubrin, a crime specialist at George Washington University. And while there’s no statistical evidence to show that branches inside grocery stores are robbed more frequently than standalone branches, “it could be easier in a grocery store because of spatial aspects,” Kubrin said.
Arlington County police spokeswoman Detective Crystal Nosal said grocery store banks may be popular targets because they’re perceived as having less security.
At the Giant, the store’s layout aided the suspect. The bright lights illuminating the aisles behind the Chevy Chase Bank’s security camera made it harder to see the suspect’s features, Nosal said.
In the Aug. 29 robbery, the suspect used the grocery store’s busy parking lot to his advantage. Police said he called in a bomb threat and told bank employees to bring cash out to a car in the parking lot. He was long gone when police discovered a suspicious package near an automated teller machine was a hoax.
Chevy Chase Bank did not return calls for comment. In July, the bank announced that it is closing its Giant branches, but bank officials at the time said that the nonrenewal of a 10-year contract with the grocery store chain was the result of economic changes and not criminal activity.
