Vicksburg Police Department Sgt. Virgil Woodall processes money found near a Trustmark bank following a robbery Monday.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[1/17/04]A robbery at the Trustmark National Bank branch on U.S. 61 South Monday sent police searching for a suspect without a clear description throughout the city and county.

Vicksburg Police Capt. Mark Culbertson said police and Warren County Sheriff’s deputies are looking, due to varying descriptions, for a white Ford Ranger or a Mazda-type vehicle.

According to Culbertson, witnesses said the robber was “polite” when asking for money, and the person did not appear to have a weapon.

Bank employees could not give a definite description because the suspect was wearing a mask similar to one in “Friday the 13th” movies and the hood of a sweatshirt was pulled tight, Culbertson said.

The suspect is described as 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 with a stocky build and round face. The robber was last seen wearing a hooded blue sweatshirt and baggy jeans.

Authorities searched a wooded area behind the bank, where the robber is believed to have fled to a vehicle.

“We believe the vehicle left a dead-end gravel drive behind the bank and went east on Grange Hall Road,” Culbertson said.

Culbertson said the robber took an undisclosed amount of cash from tellers who worked at the drive-in and at a counter. A trail of money was strewn from the bank to the wooded area, officers said.

The branch is at 4960 U.S. 61 South, at Grange Hall Road.

The robbery, reported at 2:52 p.m., was the first in Warren County this year. In 2003, two bank robberies were reported.

RiverHills Bank was robbed in July, and police arrested Christopher S. Watson, 37, of Corsicana, Texas, at a local casino about an hour after the robbery.

Britton and Koontz First National bank was robbed in April, and a husband and wife were arrested in Forrest County in that case.

In November, Horizon Casino was robbed, but no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Vicksburg Police Department at 636-2511.