Police are still investigating a string of Durham bank robberies in recent weeks. The latest robbery, which occurred at SunTrust Bank on University Drive Feb. 25, marked the sixth such incident within a span of 16 days.
Chapel Hill resident Mario Shawn Johnson, 32, has been charged with a Feb. 17 robbery of the BB&T bank on Duke Street, Durham Police Department officials announced Wednesday. Johnson remains at large as of Thursday night.
Durham police suspect that the robberies may be related, but are not sure which of the six may be connected, DPD Public Information Officer Kammie Michael said. She added that in the robberies, the suspect usually entered the bank and handed a teller a note demanding money and implying use of a weapon.
“Our investigators are trying to determine which, if any, of those robberies are related to each other,” Michael said. “We have had people charged with committing more than one bank robbery.”
News releases from DPD Feb. 17 and Feb. 25 described the suspect as a black male about 6 feet tall wearing a dark ball cap.
Durham County Sheriff’s Lt. Stan Harris also confirmed that police are investigating the possibility that some of the robberies were committed by one man. He added that some of the suspects from the robberies before last Thursday may have been operating in tandem.
“We’re looking into it to see if there is a nexus between the suspects from last week and the previous week,” he said. “We have more than one suspect.”
Police named Willie Mortez Daniel, 41, as the suspect Feb. 26 and charged him with the SunTrust robbery the day before. He allegedly entered the bank around 12:35 p.m. Thursday and handed the teller a note with instructions demanding money. He then reportedly left with an undisclosed sum and fled in a Jeep Grand Cherokee containing another man and a woman.
Police arrested Daniel Saturday in Granville County for robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was also charged with breaking and entering, possession of stolen property and larceny from an incident in Granville County Jail last week.
Banks have been told to exercise extra caution, Michael said. Several banks declined to comment.
“We have notified local banks and shared photos of the suspects with them,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We have also sent the photos to the media hoping someone would recognize the suspect(s).”
Despite the robberies in Durham, several Duke students said they still feel safe on campus.
“I actually feel very safe within Duke because we have the campus police and other students around during most hours of the day,” said freshman Anamika Saha.
She added that this sentiment does not, however, extend outside the University’s campus.
“Once you go outside the walls, you don’t feel as safe anymore,” she said. “If it’s towards the evening, you definitely feel like you shouldn’t be off-campus at that time.”
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