2 More Bank Robberies On The List

The Atlanta area is already tops in the nation when it comes to bank robberies. Now, there are two more to add to the list.

There were 350 bank robberies in the Atlanta division of the FBI this fiscal year, making it the busiest division for bank robberies in the entire nation. Agents have been expecting an additional spike in those robberies during the holiday season and after Friday, it looks like those expectations are being realized.

At 11 a.m. Friday, FBI agents said a man walked into the Ironstone Bank in Norcross, waved a gun, forced everyone to the floor, jumped the counter, and grabbed some cash.

An hour later, in Kennesaw, another man had a different plan. Police said in that case, the crook walked in with a briefcase. He said there was a bomb inside the bag. He got to leave with a bag of money, which had an exploding dye pack inside.

A day earlier in southwest Atlanta, it got even more violent. Police said a man overpowered a security guard and grabbed his weapon. After a chase into the woods nearby, police caught the robber and recovered a bag of stolen money.

They are scenes that officers and agents are seeing in the Atlanta area more than any other place in the nation.

Most of the time, police get good pictures to work with. Many times the money stolen is damaged and unusable, but that doesn't stop the crooks from trying.

"Not a good idea to rob a bank, but there are a lot of addiction issues with bank robbers so they are thinking about the short term," said FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett.

While agents and officers think about the long term goals of public safety and turning these growing numbers around. The police and the FBI are still looking for the public's help in the two robberies that happened on Friday.

For the one in Kennesaw, anyone who can help is asked to call Cobb County police. The FBI is the agency to call about the heist in Norcross.