Targeted for the 2nd time

Bank robbery in Innsbruck: manhunt underway

Police at the crime scene. This bank was robbed late Friday morning.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof/Krone KREATIV)

Armed bank robbery late Friday morning in Innsbruck. A masked perpetrator stole cash and fled the scene. Two suspects (24 and 32) were caught in the course of a large-scale manhunt. Investigations are still ongoing. Explosive: The same bank had already been robbed by an unknown perpetrator in mid-April.

The robbery took place at around 10.45 am. The BTV branch on Innsbrucker Mitterweg in the west of the city was affected. "An armed perpetrator wearing a latex face mask stole cash and then fled," police spokesman Christian Viehweider told the Krone newspaper.

Alert search: suspects in sight
The police immediately launched a manhunt. The police helicopter also circled over the city. In the course of the operation, two suspects (a 24-year-old Austrian and a presumably 32-year-old man whose identity needs to be clarified) were stopped and arrested, the police spokesman added.

It is still being investigated whether there is a connection between the people stopped and the robbery.

Polizeisprecher Christian Viehweider

Whether there is a connection between the individuals and the robbery is "currently still being investigated". The investigation is in full swing and the interrogations of the two men were underway in the afternoon.

Cash and handgun seized
In the "vicinity of the crime scene", the police were able to find and recover a bag containing a handgun, the suspects' clothing and cash. It is not yet known whether this was all or only part of the loot.

+3

Fotos

Employees escaped with a fright
In any case, the alarm and crime scene search has now been completed, it was reported in the early afternoon. Fortunately, no one was injured in the robbery, according to police reports from the morning.

Bank branch robbed back in April
Apparently, there is a concrete suspicion that the two men could be responsible for several bank robberies in Tyrol in recent months. On April 16, for example, the same bank branch on Mitterweg was robbed. One of the perpetrators had entered the counter room wearing a mask and with a firearm in his hand and threatened a female employee. During his escape, he lost some of his loot.

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 Innpromenade. A hole has now been found again in the very fence that was repaired at the time, according to a possible connection.

Possible connection to further robberies
In any case, the "modus operandi" was the same for both robberies, LKA head Katja Tersch told the APA. This also applies to two bank robberies in Kufstein and another in Innsbruck since November 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.