Crime & Safety

Man in Vader Costume Robs East Setauket Bank at Gunpoint

The robber who hit the Chase bank on Nesconset Highway in East Setauket still hasn't been found.

Police are investigating a robbery late Thursday morning at Chase Bank at 4080 Nesconset Highway in East Setauket in which an armed man wearing a Darth Vader helmet and cape fled after receiving an undisclosed amount of money.

Police are still searching for the thief, who fled eastbound through the shopping center parking lot.

An eyewitness said the thief had a "young voice," as if he were in his late teens or early 20s, and was about six feet tall. She said the thief stashed the money in a drawstring backpack with a New York Yankees logo and ran after punching a muscular male customer who tried to intervene.

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"He pulled out his gun and said, 'I will shoot you. This is not a joke,'" said the witness, who works at nearby Cactus Salon.  "We all thought it was a joke. He was in a Darth Vader mask and cape."

A brief lockdown of Arrowhead Elementary School, which is located near the Chase Bank, was instituted when the robbery was reported shortly before noon on Thursday. It was lifted less than an hour later.

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