Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a suspect in an armed bank robbery on Clayton Road Wednesday morning.
Agents arrested 48-year-old Dwayne Carlton McDonald on Wednesday night after witnesses at Hancock Whitney Bank recognized McDonald’s “Northern accent” and large “central part” for armed robbery. was charged with displaying a firearm during a felony charge.
“(Witnesses) said Dwayne McDonald was a patron they knew when he entered the bank around 11-11:30 a.m. that day,” the arrest report said. “The two said this was odd, as McDonald’s usually do their business through drive-thru.
Inside the bank, McDonald’s asked for a routing number, which the witness found odd because that number was on the customer’s check. Witnesses told officials they believed McDonald had “overturned” the bank because he did not make any further transactions.
Robbery of Hancock Whitney: ECSO agents searching for suspects in bank Clayton Road armed robbery
Authorities said McDonald fit descriptions of the suspect’s height and weight seen on bank cameras and was wearing similar clothing.
Deputies later went to McDonald’s house and found a red Town and Country van registered to McDonald’s parents. This resembled the red van in which the suspect fled the bank.
Deputies were watching McDonald’s home, prompting him to leave the house in a van and initiate a traffic stop.
During a traffic stop, an agent inspected the back seat of the van and saw a white plastic trash bag with a red drawstring. Witnesses of the same white bag claim the suspect had it in his possession during the bank robbery.
“When McDonald was detained, he was observed wearing the same shoes that the suspect was wearing, followed by a bank robbery,” the report said. “McDonald’s also had a fanny pack containing a large amount of US currency.”
McDonald’s took the deputy to Stop and Go Liquor’s on Pine Forest Road in a black truck loaded with camper shells. There, investigators found a white trash bag inside a trash can containing a red jacket, a black mask, a gray T-shirt, and black pants. white stripes.
A judge then signed a search warrant for the truck, and a deputy found a gun under the driver’s seat.
McDonald is being held at the Escambia County Jail on $75,000 bail.
Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578.
This article was originally published in the Pensacola News Journal.
