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Rutherford bank robber identified

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A bank robber identified as Luis Aparicio, 49, of Union City, was in the vault of the Chase Bank branch in Rutherford last Thursday, about to collect $47,500, when he heard the sound of police sirens, federal authorities said today.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

Robber ID’d as Luis Aparicio is believed responsible for other holdups

He grabbed the bank employee and dragged her outside as a human shield, but her hair turned out to be a wig, and she pulled loose and ran. Moments later, Aparicio was shot.

Aparicio entered the Union Avenue bank with a briefcase and umbrella at 2 o’clock Thursday afternoon, a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark says.

He put the briefcase down on a customer service desk, approached a teller who was busy with a customer, then pulled out what looked like a black handgun that he put to the customer service representative’s  neck, it says.

“I need the money. Don’t try anything stupid. I know how you operate,” he told the teller, according to the complaint. “Just give me all the money.”

He then ordered the other people in the bank onto the floor and forced the customer service representative into the vault, it says.

She was giving him $47,500, the complaint says, when they heard the sound of police sirens.

“That was stupid to call the cops,” the robber told her. “You’re coming with me.”

Aparicio “had his arm around her neck with the ‘gun’ in his hand,” then led her out onto Wells Place where he was confronted by police.

Aparicio “changed his grip on the woman and grabbed her by the hair, at which point she pulled her head out of the wig she was wearing and she began to run,” the complaint says.

After what witnesses said were repeated orders from police to drop the weapon, Aparicio was shot.

SEE: Rutherford bank robber eyed in at least three other holdups

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