Robbers hit two suburban TD Bank branches

Two TD Bank branches in suburban Philadelphia were hit by robbers Saturday morning, officials said.

The robberies do not appear related, said Carrie Adamowski, spokeswoman for the FBI's Philadelphia Division, citing "very different methods, very different scenarios."

In the first robbery, two employees were arriving around 6:45 a.m. to the bank at 2900 Moreland Road, in the Willow Grove section of Abington Township. As one employee unlocked the door for the other, a man with a handgun ran up and tried to enter.

The employees managed to close and lock the door, Abington Township Police said in a press release, but the would-be robber fired a shot through the glass door, shattering it and walking in.

One employee managed to run out a back door at that time.

Meanwhile, the gunman grabbed the other employee and dragged him to the back of the bank, police said, and he fired a second shot while threatening the employee.

Then, without getting any money, the suspect also ran out the back door. He fled in a mid-size, black SUV with chrome wheels. The car had a second person in it, police said, and may have been parked on Carnation Avenue, Oklahoma Road, or the entrance to the Twin Brooks Townhouses right before the robbery. Both people drove south on Fitzwatertown Road and then west on Oklahoma Road, police said.

The employees suffered minor injuries but needed no treatment, police said, and there were no customers in the bank at the time.

The suspect is described as a black male, dressed in all black, including a zipped-up black sweater with the hood up and a black mask which hid most of his face.

Police are asking anyone who may have seen the car in the area or have other information to call Abington Police at 267-536-1100 and select option 3.

The second robbery, at a TD Bank at 346 West Trenton Avenue in Morrisville, occured more than three hours later, at 9:59 a.m.

In that case, the robber came in during business hours and verbally demanded money from a teller. He threatened to use a gun, police said, but did not show a weapon. The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, following protocol, Adamowski said, and then fled on foot.

He was last seen heading west on West Trenton Avenue.

The robber is described as a white male, between 5-feet-7-inches and 5-feet-8-inches, and in his late 50s. The man is medium build, with short "salt and pepper" hair, police said, wearing glasses, a collared brown jacket, jeans, and a plaid newsboy cap.

Officials are considering him armed and dangerous. Police ask anyone with information to contact the Falls Township Police at 215-302-3308, or the FBI at 215-641-8910. There may be a reward, officials said, and tipsters can remain anonymous.