Olympia police nab suspect on their way to call about west side bank robbery

Olympia police quickly arrested a 38-year-old man accused of robbing a Wells Fargo bank on Wednesday.

Officers responded to the bank on Black Lake Boulevard around 4:15 p.m. and saw him running from the scene, said Lt. Paul Lower. A tweet from the Olympia Police Department indicated they found the suspect one minute after being dispatched.

“Black Lake Boulevard is sort of in the middle of the west side,” Lower said. “(Officers) are not far away. As they turn and head in that direction, one officer spotted the suspect running alongside the roadway.”

Lower said police acted quickly to surround the man and he surrendered. During the arrest, Lower said officers recovered $550 in cash and a note he allegedly used to demand cash from the bank teller.

“He dropped a piece of crumpled paper when they approached him,” Lower said. “That was the demand note.”

The man has been booked into Thurston County jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Lower said the note implied he carried a weapon, but police did not recover a weapon during his arrest.

Lower said the man’s last known address was in Bremerton, but it’s unclear if he still lived there.