Amarillo Police responded to a possible bank robbery at the Amarillo National Bank at 712 North Taylor Tuesday afternoon.
Responding officers saw a female matching the description of the robbery suspect approaching or getting into a white Dodge flatbed style pickup that was parked in front of the bank and took her into custody.
Officers learned that the woman under arrest had entered the bank and then walked into an area not normally open to the public.
The female suspect was holding what officers later learned was a large water gun draped with an article of gray clothing. She announced the robbery to a female bank employee. Immediately after that, a male bank employee entered the room.
When the female suspect turned toward the male, her water gun made contact with him accidentally. He realized it was not a real gun and tried to detain or control the suspect. The woman resisted and broke away, dropping the water gun as she fled back out the front door.
She was detained as she tried to enter the pickup.
Officers learned that the white Dodge pickup had just been stolen from a business on Amarillo Boulevard East a few minutes earlier. An employee of the company that owns the Dodge had left it running or left the keys in the vehicle, which allowed the suspect to take it and use it in this robbery.
Amarillo Police have identified the suspect as 31-year-old Lashondra Deniece Sandoval-Martin.
She was booked into the Potter County Detention Center for aggravated robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
(Information from MyHighPlains.com)
