Woman dresses as clown for Halloween Eve bank raid
By Mark Clothier
CNN
Friday, October 31, 2003 Posted: 10:49 AM
EST (1549 GMT)
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A
woman in a clown suit robbed a Bank of America branch in Virginia Beach
Thursday. Story Tools
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(CNN) -- Police say they are hunting a woman who was dressed as a clown when she robbed a Virginia Beach, Virginia, bank the day before Halloween.
At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, a woman in a clown costume walked into a Bank of America on one of Virginia Beach's busiest streets, and handed a bank teller a note demanding money, police said.
The teller gave the woman the money, and the woman left as she arrived -- by taxi, police said.
The woman did not display a weapon or imply that she had one, but police believe she was armed. Police said interviews with bank employees caused them to consider her armed and dangerous, said Don Rimer, police spokesman.
Police said the suspect is between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighs between 140 lbs. and 170 pounds. Her face was covered in white face paint and she wore a red, yellow and purple wig, police said. The suspect wore a multi-colored clown costume, a red or maroon undershirt, white gloves, and white shoes, police said. She also carried a blue backpack, police said.
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Rimer said it's the first time in his 33 years working for the police department that someone dressed as a clown has robbed a bank.
He said police don't know if the timing of the robbery -- the day before Halloween -- was a factor. Halloween and Halloween Eve are two days when dressing like a clown is less likely to draw attention.
"My wife and I have dressed as clowns for Halloween before and stopped at a 7-11 on the way to a party and no one looked twice," Rimer said.
The woman was driven by taxi to the bank from the Collins Square Shopping Center in Virginia Beach, police said. The taxi driver drove the woman eight blocks back down Virginia Beach Avenue to the shopping center, police said.
The taxi driver is not a suspect, Rimer said.
Police are asking anyone with information about the crime to call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
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