SAN DIEGO : 2 Bandits at Large in Holdup of Courier

Two men who robbed a Loomis Armored Inc. courier of $160,000 in Mission Valley remained at large Tuesday, and FBI investigators added a third suspect to the case, officials said.

Witnesses told police two men came up behind an armed Loomis courier as he was walking up a stairwell about 9 a.m. Monday. The courier was making a cash delivery and pickup at the Navy Federal Credit Union in the 4000 block of Camino del Rio South, officials said. Officials said a third man drove the getaway car.

FBI spokesman Jack Kelley said one of the thieves grabbed the courier’s shoulder, disarmed him and put a gun to his head. Another man grabbed the money. The two with the cash went to a blue Buick waiting in an underground parking area, officials said.

Police said three armed men had stolen the Buick from a woman two hours before the Loomis courier robbery.

Police found the abandoned Buick about half a mile from the credit union with the courier’s handgun inside, police spokesman Bill Robinson said. A trail of $10 and $20 bills led up the hill from the vehicle into a woods, Robinson said.

An officer estimated the cash loss at $160,000 and the cash leading into the trees as $1,600, Robinson said.