2 men rob Oak Lawn bank, FBI says

Eric Horng Image
Friday, August 28, 2015
2 men rob Oak Lawn bank
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the Oak Lawn bank robbery.

OAK LAWN, Ill. (WLS) -- The FBI is looking for two men who terrorized employees and customers at a U.S. Bank branch in suburban Oak Lawn Thursday morning.

The men covered their faces with masks, but they were captured on surveillance video. No one was injured.

At about 9:30 a.m. on South Central Avenue in a strip mall filled with family-owned businesses, one of the robbers held workers and customers at gunpoint in the lobby while another man forced an employee to open the vault. At least one customer had a gun held to his head.

"He said some guys came in with guns and had them to the floor at gunpoint," said Marina Batarseh, who works at her mother's hair salon next door to the bank.

She arrived to work to see a swarm of police and FBI agents interviewing distraught witnesses.

"They were just all pale and scary," Batarseh said. "It was sad to see them this scared because of what happened.

"I didn't expect it to happen like that with the gun," said Amy Batarseh, owner of All American Hair Design. "We're not in Chicago."

Officials did not disclose how much money was taken.

The FBI said the two masked men were wore blue latex gloves.

"I don't see a lot of crime happening around this strip mall. But just to see a lot of cops, it's very, it was scary," Marina Batarseh said.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.