Robbery with latex mask and weapon: 2 arrests after bank robbery in Innsbruck

There he threatened the employees present in the counter area with a weapon and demanded that they hand over cash. When he received it, he fled on foot. A short time later, two suspects – a 24-year-old Austrian and a presumably 32-year-old whose identity is still unclear – were arrested near the crime scene.

Cash and weapon seized

A bag with cash and the handgun were also found nearby. A black backpack with the suspected perpetrator’s clothing was also found, the State Criminal Police Office reported. The description of the immediate perpetrator’s clothing matches the items found, said LKA head Katja Tersch. According to the police, the bank robber was wearing dark trousers and a dark hoodie with light-colored appliqués during the robbery and was also carrying a black backpack.

Large-scale alarm search

The two suspects were still to be questioned. It was also not yet clear which of them was in the bank. The employees were unharmed, but were reportedly shaken by what had happened. After the two suspects were arrested, the large-scale manhunt that had been initiated after the robbery at 10:45 a.m., involving a police helicopter and several patrols in the state capital, was temporarily suspended.

More crimes?

Meanwhile, there was apparently a specific suspicion that the two men could be responsible for several bank robberies in Tyrol in recent months. For example, the same bank branch on Mitterweg was robbed on April 16. A masked perpetrator entered the counter area with a firearm in his hand and threatened an employee. He lost part of his loot while fleeing. According to the online edition of the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”, a hole was discovered in the wire mesh fence of a sports field in the direction of the Inn promenade. A hole was now found in the very same fence that was repaired at the time, it was said in reference to a possible connection.

Similar “modus operandi”

In any case, the same “modus operandi” was used in both robberies, Tersch stressed. This also applies to two bank robberies in Kufstein and another in Innsbruck since November of last year, which have so far remained unsolved. All of this is now the subject of investigations, explained the head of the State Criminal Police Office.