Police swarm Bainbridge bank after alarm

Published 5:15 pm Thursday, December 5, 2013

An alarm at the Wells Fargo Bank branch on Hildebrand Lane spurred a vigorous police response Thursday afternoon before Bainbridge Island police determined a bank robbery was not in progress and it was a false alarm.

Dispatchers made contact with bank employees shortly after 2:30 p.m. and were told the alarm was unintentional. Police were called to the scene after a second attempt was made to contact the bank and no one answered.

Emergency dispatchers believed the person who answered the first call sounded nervous.

Approximately seven police officers surrounded the bank.

“I was driving up and there was a huge 18-wheeler outside Island Grill on Hildebrand,” said Tirza Palmer, a Review employee who was heading back to the newspaper after a late lunch.

“And then I look around and one of our female officers is standing in the bushes,” Palmer added, with her weapon at the ready.

Palmer said multiple officers were near the bank with weapons drawn when she tried to return to the newspaper’s office.

Police left the area after about 15 minutes when it was apparent the alarm had been tripped by accident.