JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who tried to rob a Jacksonville bank on Tuesday was denied after the teller refused to give him money, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
JSO said a man entered a Regions Bank on Southside Boulevard near Tinseltown on Tuesday morning, passed the teller a demand note and the teller said he wasn’t getting any money.
The man then walked out of the bank and got into a waiting getaway car, maybe a dark Mustang, and took off, JSO said.
Three employees were in the bank at the time and no one was hurt. The suspect, who never showed a weapon according to JSO, is around 25-to-35 years old, 5-foot-11 and has a beard and dreadlocks. The man was wearing a gray sweater and blue jeans, a baseball cap with a “P” on it and a COVID mask.
“The robber probably figured he could blend in with the crowd because it’s a heavily populated business area there are people coming and going all the time there is traffic there is vehicular traffic so he probably thought he could blend in,” crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said.
Although no one was injured, Jefferson said it was risky for the teller to refuse to give up the money because that could have escalated the situation.
The attempted robbery Tuesday was the eighth robbery or attempted robbery of a financial institution in Jacksonville this year and the first since August.
That same Regions Bank was robbed in February.