Armored truck robbed at gunpoint in East Long Beach, LBPD says
The robbery occurred in broad daylight outside a Chase Bank in the Los Altos neighborhood.
An armored truck was robbed at gunpoint outside an East Long Beach bank Wednesday afternoon, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
The robbery occurred around 1:15 p.m. outside the Chase Bank branch on Spring Street near Palo Verde. Two men armed with guns robbed an employee of an armored transport service, LBPD said.
The robbers struck as the money was being transferred from the bank to the armored vehicle, according to LBPD spokesperson Richard Mejia.
The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle before officers arrived, according to LBPD, which did not provide a description of the suspects or vehicle.
A Chase Bank representative declined to comment on the incident.
No injuries were reported and an investigation is underway, including into exactly how much was stolen, according to Mejia, who added the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the incident.
Bank crimes, which includes robberies of banks as well as armored carriers, became a federal crime under the jurisdiction of the FBI in 1934.
Bank robberies are extremely rare. In 2023, there were 1,263 bank robberies, only three of which were of armored carrier companies, according to FBI data. That same year, the FBI recorded more than 14 million criminal offenses, meaning bank robberies made up only 0.009% of all crime.
Over the last 20 years, bank robberies have steadily decreased, FBI data shows. In 2003, the agency reported 7,465 incidents — or 0.06% of crime that year.
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