This security camera still of a bank robber suspect was released by Coos Bay Police this morning. Police said the suspect left the Wells Fargo bank on North Broadway Thursday afternoon with an undisclosed amount of cash. Contributed Photo

A branch of Wells Fargo Bank located on North Broadway in Coos Bay was robbed Thursday for the second time this year.

Coos Bay Officer Scott Snyder said the suspect walked into the bank at 3:46 p.m. and demanded money, indicating to employees that he had a weapon, but never displayed one. Snyder said the suspect left through the south exit with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The suspect is described as a white male adult, 35 to 40 years old, 6 feet tall with a medium build. Police said he was wearing a green jacket, a dark baseball cap with "Hawaii" written across it and dark-colored baggy pants.

The bank was put on lockdown shortly after the incident and witnesses were interviewed while eight officers and deputies from Coos Bay Police, Oregon State Police, the Coos County Sheriff's Office and Coquille Tribal Police canvassed the blocks around the bank and the nearby Tioga building.

"We try to interview all the witnesses and bank employees on the spot while things are still fresh in their mind," Snyder said.

In a press release Thursday, police said the suspect left the bank on foot in an unknown direction.

According to Steve Ryker, Wells Fargo vice president of security and regional security manager, the robbery happened in a busy period in the day, when people are leaving work and running errands. Many customers gathered outside the bank, wondering why the doors were locked.

"Everyone is trained to do certain things to maintain the safety of everyone involved, and that's what happened today," Ryker said, adding a motive for the crime is difficult to determine at this stage in the investigation. "We find more and more a large majority of robberies are driven by the need for drugs for the robber so they tend to be somewhat unpredictable."

Ryker declined to reveal how much money was taken but said whatever the amount, it doesn't add up in the end.

"I can tell you it's not a lot of money considering the amount of jail time the robber will get when he's caught," he said. "The penalties are stiff and definitely not worth the amount of money they're going to get."

On May 6, a robber escaped with $891 from the bank. Six days later, an officer shot and killed a suspect, 34-year-old Steven Lile Garner, as police tried to arrest him on the Southwestern Oregon Community College campus.

Despite Thursday's robbery being the second this year, Ryker said the location alongside the highway is no more high-risk than Wells Fargo's 138 other Oregon locations.

Police are requesting anyone with information call the department at 269-8911 or Coos Stop Crime at 267-6666.