Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Traffic on a block of North Franklin Street was shut down for hours Monday while police searched for the suspect in a bank robbery and responded to a bomb threat.
Police were called to the Community Bank, located at 64 N. Franklin St., just after 10:30 a.m. for reports of the suspect leaving a package at the scene.
Wilkes-Barre Police Commander Joseph Coffay said the suspect is a young black male, perhaps in his 20s. He entered the bank with a box and produced a handwritten note explaining that he had a bomb and then demanded money, according to police.
He then proceeded to take an undetermined amount of cash and fled the area in a white Chrysler van, according to the police report.
A woman on scene who did not wish to be identified said that she saw a white van similar to the one driven by the suspect before the Community Bank robbery. She said she saw the van drive slowly past the nearby PNC, located about a block away on West Market Street. The woman said that the van then sped away.
The Community Bank was evacuated until it could be determined if the package was an explosive device of some kind. Evacuations were not ordered at surrounding buildings, but some, like the Kirby Memorial Health Center, were voluntarily evacuated.
Police helicopters circled the area overhead in an attempt to track down the suspect.
With Scranton being the nearest community with a bomb squad, investigators were forced to wait for the Scranton Police Department bomb squad to arrive on scene. The bomb squad determined that the package left by the suspect was not an explosive device.
After the scene was determined to be safe, members of a Pennsylvania State Police crime scene investigation unit along with the FBI and Wyoming and Luzerne County detectives began to investigate.
Police say that the white van was later found, but the suspect was not with the vehicle and is currently being sought by authorities.
Representatives from the bank declined to comment while the investigation was ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the robbery is asked to contact the Wilkes-Barre Police Detective Division or the FBI office in Scranton.
