Somebody Call ... Security? Bank Robbed at TSA Headquarters

Talk about brazen. Two men robbed a bank on the ground floor of the Transportation Security Administration's headquarters Wednesday just outside of Washington, D.C.

That would be the Transportation Security Administration, as in the TSA, as in the airport security people.

At about 1:19 p.m., the pair of bandits walked into the PenFed Credit Union branch in Pentagon City and approached a teller and demanded money be placed in a backpack, which the men provided, according to the Arlington County Police Department.

The credit union branch is in the TSA headquarters building at 701 12th St. S., Arlington, but it has a separate entrance that faces 12th Street South. The building has extra security — at the TSA entrance, but not at the bank, police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck told Patch.

The robbers received an undisclosed amount of money and then left the building, crossed the street in front of the Pentagon City mall and got away in what a witness told police was a blue-and-white taxi.

No weapons were used, and no one was injured, Sternbeck said.

"As you can see in the surveillance video, they were in and out within a matter of seconds," he said. No patrons, and only a small number of employees, were inside of the bank at the time of the robbery.

Investigators are sharing information with the TSA because it's their building, Sternbeck said, but Arlington police and the local FBI office are in charge of the investigation. The TSA headquarters is located in two buildings, at 601 and 701 12th St. S., with about 546,000 square feet between the two of them.

Because the crime occurred around lunchtime, police said they hope that releasing surveillance video and still photos of the incident will cause more witnesses to come forward.

Authorities are asking for the public's help in identifying and locating the two men.

One is described as about 6 feet tall with a skinny build and a short beard. He was wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket and a black-and-red hat and glasses during the robbery, according to police.

The other man was described as about 5-foot, 10-inches tall, and wearing blue jeans, a grey hooded sweatshirt and a blue jacket.

Investigators are asking anyone with information on these men to contact Arlington County police Detective Gary Skeens at 703-228-4166, gskeens@arlingtonva.us or investigations@arlingtonva.us.

To report information anonymously, contact Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866-411-8477.