When he walked into the bank shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday morning, employees had just opened for business. Nobody was standing in line, and the man cut a distinctive figure — a grey fedora with a black band, a dark trenchcoat and expensive-looking shoes.
But employees at the Virginia Commerce Bank on King Street would soon learn that he wasn’t sporting an outfit for the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce’s “Casablanca-inspired gala." He was there to steal their money.
Brandishing a handgun toward a teller, he demanded money and received an undisclosed amount of cash. The well-dressed man then fled onto a crowded King Street, blending in with the workaday crowd on one of Alexandria’s busiest streets. Police officials describe the suspect as a white male in his late 30s or early 40s, and 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall.
“The most unusual thing about this is the clothing he was wearing,” said Amy Bertsch, police spokeswoman. “The clothing and the hat have brought a lot of attention — mostly the hat.”