Durham Police Name Suspect In Bank Robbery

Police already arrested another man in connection with the robbery. The suspect they are looking for is 27-year-old Lonzell Lunsford, of 2501 Vesson Avenue.

Lunsford also has been charged with breaking into a house on Singing Woods Place following the robbery. In addition, he is facing charges of obtaining property by false pretense and assault on a female from prior incidents.

According to investigators, a man entered the bank around 2:20 p.m. Monday and demanded money. He fled in a burgundy Saturn driven by a second man.

The car, which had been reported stolen in Raleigh, was found a short time later abandoned on Front Street.

Police said the men apparently drove from Front Street in a blue Ford Taurus and exchanged the Taurus for a red Geo Prizm. The Prizm was found abandoned next to a business on North Roxboro Road.

Police said the two men then fled on foot to a house at 4801 Singing Woods Place. Officers went to the house and took 27-year-old Jerome Maurice Thompkins, of Estes Street, into custody.

Officers also recovered a handgun and some cash from the residence.

Lunsford is described as a black male, 5 foot 9 inches tall and 250 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Durham Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division at

560-4440,

CrimeStoppers at

683-1200,

the FBI at

233-7701

or

(704) 377-9200

or the N.C. Bankers' Association hotline at

(800) 209-2293.

CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,200 and the

North Carolina Bankers' Association

up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest.