Hitterdal Bank Robbery Suspect Still on the Loose

A suspect is on the run after robbing a bank in Hitterdal.

Police need your help in finding the man.

Police say just before noon, a white man around 6 foot 2 robbed the State Bank of Lake Park in Hitterdal.

He demanded money, then ran from the bank before police could catch him.

Unfortunately, the bank’s surveillance footage isn’t much help and that’s why they need you.

“What we’re asking is if anybody in that rural area saw anything around 11:40 A.M. today, whether somebody suspicious, somebody driving around town anything to help us out to give us something to follow up on,” says Lt. Stephen Landsome with Clay County Sherrif’s Office.
 
Police aren’t working with much. The bank’s security camera still uses VHS, making for some blurry photos.
 
“So we got a picture of half of him coming in and half of him walking out,” says Landsome.
 
Police say A K-9 possibly tracked the man to a vehicle.

Video from a nearby liquor store captured what is believed to be the man’s black car driving to the bank.
 

“What we have is very limited information and we’re following up on what leads we’ve already discovered,” says Landsome.
 
And it’s startling for some in the community.
 
“I think of it maybe happening in cities but not in Hitterdal Minnesota,” says Jerri Williams of Ulen.
 
Williams was enjoying lunch with her brother as police were searching for the man.
 
“She asked me where I had been this morning around 11 earlier but we had just had lunch so,” says Williams.
 
And dealing with robberies in rural areas can pose problems for police.
 
“If you have an unincorporated town that doesn’t have a police department and the response time is a lot more in a rural setting that’s the situation that we deal with,” says Landsome.
 
While response times can be slower in rural areas. They believe the first squad car arrived within five minutes.

And another note, that same exact bank was robbed nine years ago.