Search after bank heist comes up empty

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

Metro Police searched a northwest Las Vegas neighborhood for more than 10 hours Tuesday but were unable to locate a man wanted for a bank robbery at a grocery store.

At about 11 a.m. police responded to a robbery at the Wells Fargo Bank inside Albertson's, 6140 W. Lake Mead Blvd., police spokesman Lt. Marc Joseph said.

Shortly after the robbery a resident reported seeing a suspicious man in the neighborhood northeast of the intersection of Lake Mead and Jones Boulevard.

Police were looking for a 5-foot-7-inch man in his early 20s with a dark complexion, FBI spokesman Special Agent Joe Dickey said. The man was last seen wearing black, baggy jeans, an oversized, blue zippered shirt and a black bandana.

Police set up a perimeter, and the SWAT team searched door to door through the neighborhood north of Lake Mead, south of Smoke Ranch Road, east of Jones Boulevard and west of Michael Way.

Residents who were at home were asked to stay inside, and those who were away from their houses were not allowed to return until the search was complete.

"We probably searched about 55 houses, and didn't find the suspect," Joseph said.

The only thing found was a handgun and some clothing police think may belong to the suspect, Joseph said.

The case will now go to the FBI, but that was small solace to neighborhood residents.

"We just want to get home, but we can't," said one woman, who drove back into the neighborhood with her children about 9:30 p.m. hoping the search would be completed.

"We've been waiting a long time."