Three armed suspects remain at-large after robbing the Rockland Trust bank in Vineyard Haven early Thursday morning, police said.
Tisbury police confirmed the incident on their Facebook page in a post at approximately 9:00 a.m.
“Active police scene at Rockland Trust in Vineyard Haven – confirmed armed robbery with firearms,” Tisbury police wrote.
Tisbury police chief Chris Habekost was at the scene Thursday morning. He said that the robbery occurred at approximately 8:15 a.m. at the bank just off the Vineyard Haven-Edgartown Road, when three individuals armed with handguns entered the building. The individuals tied up bank personnel and escaped in a stolen vehicle, which was recovered near the Manuel F. Correllus state forest, he said.
Chief Habekost said no one was physically injured in the robbery. The suspects were not in custody, he said.
Lieutenant Bill Brigham with the Tisbury police department said the suspects wore black hoodies and white masks, and stole a bank teller’s vehicle in the escape.
“With hoodies and masks…it’s really hard to get a physical description,” Lieut. Brigham said. “The important thing is that no one was hurt.”
Police described one of the suspects as light-skinned.
The state police and agents from Federal Bureau of Investigation’s bank robbery task force were en route to the scene to assist in the incident response, Chief Habekost said. He said police at the bank were preserving the crime scene for further investigation, and examining video footage.
The Martha’s Vineyard school superintendent’s office put out a notice shortly after the robbery that schools would go into lockdown.
“There’s been an incident in Tisbury,” the notice read. “Out of an abundance of caution schools are going to shelter in place.”
Approximately eight police cars were at the Rockland Trust bank building off the Vineyard Haven-Edgartown at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The bank building had been cordoned off with caution tape, as officers from Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven and Edgartown milled about the scene.
