A multi-state search is underway for a man who got into a shoot-out with a police officer after robbing a Virginia bank at gunpoint.
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Law enforcement officials have been looking for 52-year-old James Whittlesey for nearly two weeks.
On Oct. 14, he robbed a United Bank in Winchester while armed with a revolver, according to a criminal complaint. After obtaining cash from the tellers, he fled on foot and encountered a city police officer.
The complaint says Whittlesey fired multiple shots at the officer, who returned fire. Whittlesey then tried to flee in a car; he crashed the vehicle and then ran away on foot, the complaint says.
Near the abandoned vehicle, officers found a loaded revolver, a shoe, cash and other items similar to those the bank robber was wearing or carrying during the heist.
Whittlesey is wanted on charges of armed bank robbery and attempted capital murder of a police officer. The FBI is using digital billboards in several states in an effort to track him down.
Whittlesey is known to frequent the Harford and Baltimore areas in Maryland, according to Maryland State Police.
The FBI said he is also considered a suspect in several other armed robberies: three in central Pennsylvania and one in Delaware.
Whittlesey is described as a white man who is about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 235 pounds. He has black/gray hair and brown eyes. Whittlesey may have a moustache and a trimmed beard. He has a tattoo on his right forearm.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the FBI’s tip line at 800-225-5324.
