Thieves Dressed Like Nuns Rob Chicago Bank in Scene out of 'The Town'
Copycat robbers wore rubber nun masks and carried handguns.
May 31, 2011— -- Two robbers dressed in nun costumes held up a suburban Chicago bank in a brazen daytime heist in a scene straight of the bank-job movie "The Town."
The suspected robbers, believed to be a man and woman, knocked over the TCF bank in Palos Heights, Ill., Sunday just before the bank was set to close at 1:58 p.m.
Both suspects were brandishing handguns, said Cynthia Yates, spokeswoman for the FBI field office in Chicago.
The robbers rushed into the bank, jumped over the counter and ordered two employees, a teller and the branch manager, to fill a Nike duffel bag with bundles of cash taken from the vault.
Yates described the stickup as a "takeover-style" heist, in which "the individuals came in and took over the bank, instructing tellers to do what the say or be harmed."
The suspects pointed their weapons at the bank employees, but no shots were fired and no one was injured.
The two suspects were both dressed in black sweat pants and sweatshirts and wore nuns' habits and identical ghoulish rubber masks, with small slits for eyes.
Police would not say how much money was taken.
The costumes were identical to those worn by a crew of stickup men in the 2010 thriller "The Town," directed and starring Ben Affleck.
One suspect is described as a 5-foot-9 male carrying a revolver. The other suspect is described as a 5-foot-5 woman who brandished a semiautomatic handgun.
As a result of the heavy rubber masks, habbits and gloves, there was some confusion regarding the suspects' race. Investigators initially said they were white, but later said they were black.
According to the FBI's bandittracker website, there have been 34 bank robberies in the Chicagoland area this year, tracking with last year's 173 total heists.
That same TCF branch has been robbed at least five times in recent years, said Dave Delaney, Palos Heights Police spokesman. He said investigators had a few leads but "nothing definite."
The two suspects are not the first robbers whose costume choice was inspired by the movies. In July 2010, a man dressed as Darth Vader and carrying a handgun walked into a Long Island Chase branch and robbed the bank.