Authorities say the suspects robbed a Bank of America on Soledad Canyon in Santa Clarita on Wednesday morning. As deputies chased them south on the 5 Freeway, two of the four suspects bailed out of the getaway vehicle in Sylmar. One man was captured in the afternoon, but the other suspect remains at large.
The other two men, the driver of the getaway vehicle and another suspect, continued trying to outrun officers on the 5, 101 and 210 freeways. The suspects also raced down several surface streets in L.A., tossing stolen money along the way.
Hundreds of people flooded into the streets scooping up the stolen cash. Police say the bandits were hoping to create chaos and block patrol cars from closing in on them, but it did not work. The suspects in the SUV became backed up in the chaos and were arrested at Vernon and Kansas avenues in South L.A.
Officials are not releasing how much money was stolen during the bank robbery. They are encouraging anyone who picked up cash off the street to return it.
"At this time, we recovered about $1,500 from the money that was thrown out of the vehicle pursuit yesterday," said Nicole Nishida of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
It was not known if the money was marked, but if it is marked and someone tries to spend it, that person could be arrested for receiving stolen property, police said. The money can be returned to any police agency in the area.
Anyone with information about the fourth suspect is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 222-TIPS.
