Staff reports
KANNAPOLIS ó Police are looking for a cross-dressing robber who brandished a handgun while carrying a purple purse inside a Kannapolis bank Wednesday morning.
The robbery came shortly after an apparent attempted robbery at a Landis bank. At around 11:20 a.m., a man walked into SunTrust on Main Street, said Landis Police Lt. Mark Benfield.
Benfield said the man came into the foyer area, looked around and then went back out.
“He did not display a gun,” Benfield said.
Investigators are not certain why the man backed out, but believe it could be because a postal worker came in after the suspect.
“We aren’t sure if that’s what thwarted him,” he said.
Bank employees suspected a robbery might be in the works and locked the door.
Bank personnel notified police of the suspicious person. Officers arrived at SunTrust and passed on a description of the suspect to emergency dispatchers.
The man dressed in women’s clothing robbed the Kannapolis Fifth Third Bank at 1408 South Main St., just south of the Rodgers Lake Road intersection, around 11:35 a.m.
Kannapolis police responded to an alarm activation at the bank. Employees said a black man wearing women’s clothing entered the bank brandishing a handgun and demanded money.
Bank employees complied with his demands and gave the man an undisclosed amount of money.
The man left the bank and was seen getting into the passenger side of a small silver four-door car driven by a white man.
The vehicle traveled west on Triece Street toward Rogers Lake Road.
After the Landis incident, a radio dispatch described the man carrying a purple purse and traveling in a car believed to be a late model silver Honda driven by a white man. That broadcast went out shortly before the Kannapolis robbery.
Kannapolis police have released the following description of the the suspect: a black man, approximately 6 feet tall, weighing 175 pounds. He was wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt, a long skirt, athletic shoes, dark sunglasses and carrying a purple-colored drawstring cinch bag with the number “84” printed on it.
The FBI is involved in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Kannapolis Police Department at 704-920-4000 or Cabarrus Area Crimestoppers at 704-932-7463.