2 Arrested in Simi Valley Bank Robbery

Two men driving a car stolen from Los Angeles held up a Simi Valley branch of Bank of America on Friday morning, sending authorities on an hours-long manhunt that stretched into the evening but ended in the arrests of two suspects.

The robbers entered the bank in a shopping center in the 2800 block of Cochran Street about 10:45 a.m., brandished handguns and ordered several customers to the floor, Simi Valley Police Lt. Rex Jones said.

They took cash from tellers and fled in a sedan, Jones said. Officers briefly chased the robbers, who tossed some of the stolen cash and a handgun out the car window, Jones said. They then ditched the car in a neighborhood behind the shopping center and fled on foot, he said.

By late Friday afternoon, SWAT officers had the suspects contained in a several-block area and were searching house by house, Jones said. About 6 p.m. one man was found hiding in a backyard and taken into custody without incident, Jones said. Two hours later authorities arrested a second man in another backyard, Jones said.