Update April 9 8:54 p.m. A bizarre double robbery Tuesday afternoon in Seymour prompted a Valleywide police pursuit up and down Route 8.
The vehicle police were looking for eluded capture, and was last seen headed north on Route 8 about 3:30 p.m., according to emergency radio dispatches — a half-hour after Seymour police were called to Webster Bank, at 15 New Haven Road, because of several 911 calls reporting a robbery in progress.
They discovered victims inside and outside the building.
Seymour Police Lt. Paul Satkowski said in a prepared statement issued about 8:30 p.m. that a customer was sitting in his vehicle in the bank’s parking lot when he was approached by another man who smashed the vehicle’s window and robbed him at gunpoint.
The suspect then ran inside the bank, showed a gun, climbed over the teller counter and filled a backpack with money, Satkowski’s statement, which is embedded at the end of this story, said.
“After gathering an undetermined amount of money the suspect exited the bank through the front door and drove away in a green Ford Taurus vehicle which was later located in Beacon Falls,” Satkowski said. “It is believed the suspect then switched vehicles and drove away from the area in a red Toyota Prius with an accomplice.”
The suspect was described as a black male approximately 5’6” tall with a stocky build, Satkowski said. The man wore black shoes, and blue sweatpants with camouflage-style pants underneath.
Article continues after photos from the bank’s surveillance system.
He also wore wore a navy blue, hooded, zippered sweat jacket with white sleeves and wore a mask, possibly a stocking, along with the hooded jacket, Satkowski said, and “black colored mechanic-style gloves and carried a small black backpack.”
After the Beacon Falls car switch, the Prius was sighted headed southbound on Route 8, prompting a chase involving state police and several local departments.
Click here to read comments from Valley Indy readers, several of whom reported seeing the pursuit.
Radio dispatches indicate police picked up the car in the area of Exit 19 of Route 8 southbound.
The vehicle got off the highway, with Ansonia and then Derby police becoming involved in the hunt for the car on city streets before losing the Prius in the area of Olivia Street in Derby about 3:15 p.m.
A sighting of the vehicle in the area of Exit 13 of Route 8 in Shelton was reported about five minutes later, drawing Shelton police officers into the search.
Click the play button below to hear emergency radio dispatches as police hunted for the suspects. The audio has been edited, and is not in real time.
About five minutes after the car was spotted in Shelton it was seen on Route 8, going north, the vehicle’s last sighting, about 3:30 p.m., according to radio dispatches.
The bank was also robbed at gunpoint in February.
Satkowski did not say whether police believe Tuesday’s robbery to be related to February’s, but did urge anyone “who may have information or observed anything suspicious” to contact police.
The Seymour Police Department’s phone number is at 203 – 881-7601.
“All information will be kept confidential,” Satkowski said. “Reward money is also available for information which leads to an arrest and conviction of the suspect.”
