Deputies arrested an Orange County man with a hatchet following a botched robbery at a bank in La Mirada on Friday afternoon, authorities said.
The crime unfolded about 2:50 p.m. at Chase Bank, 15128 Rosecrans Ave., according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Tenaya Brown.
A man entered the bank and handed a teller a note indicating he was robbing the business, the lieutenant said.
The teller took the note, triggered a silent alarm and notified the other employees what was happening, she said. The employees then hid in the back of the business.
The would-be robber apparently realized the teller was not bringing him the money and attempted to leave the bank empty-handed, Brown said.
Deputies responding to the initial silent alarm were already on scene and encountered the suspect as soon as he exited the bank, Brown said. He was taken into custody without a struggle.
Deputies found a hatchet concealed in the suspect’s waistband, but no one reported seeing it brandished during the failed heist, she said.
The man was arrested on suspicion of attempted bank robbery.
His identity was not yet available pending the formal booking process. He was described as a Santa Ana-area man in his 40s.
Agents from the FBI, which has jurisdiction over bank robberies, were assisting sheriff’s officials in the investigation.
