Crime & Safety

Ross Police Identify Bank Robbery Suspects, Reveal Details of Wild Chase

Suspects were arrested after they ditched their getaway car on I-79 near Wexford.

Ross Township police say one of two men who held up the Fidelity Bank at 1009 Perry Highway in Ross was armed with a handgun late Wednesday afternoon.

Mario Robinson, 24, of New Castle and Regan Pierre, 20, of New Kensington were arrested after a wild car and then foot chase through several North Hills suburbs.

Bank employees called 911 shortly after 4 p.m. to report the robbery. Ross Police Detectives happened to be in the area, with a prisoner, on an unrelated call and spotted a black Honda coupe fleeing the scene, said Detective Brian Kohlhepp.

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The detectives followed the car, which sped west on Rochester Road, passing other cars on the double yellow line. The Ross detectives were unable to continue the pursuit because of their prisoner, but were able to relay its direction of travel, Kohlhepp said.

An Ohio Township police officer next spotted the Honda coupe on Mt. Nebo Road. Kohlhepp said the suspect vehicle sped north on Interstate 79, then struck a guide rail on the Mingo Road overpass just north of the Wexford interchange.

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The two men bailed out of the getaway vehicle and ran.

Northern Regional police Sgt. John Sicilia spotted Robinson first, just down the hill from the getaway car.

“I was driving down Mingo Road and saw one actor in the woods. I ordered him to stop and get down on his knees,” Sicilia told the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review.

A few minutes later, a resident from a nearby neighborhood called 911 to report a man in a white hoodie was behind the houses, and appeared out of breath and sweating.

“I looked out my window. There were about 25 police cars pulling into my driveway and along the road,” Amanda Murray of Marshall Township told the Trib.

“I ran out the door, and an officer got out of his car and said, ‘Ma’am, stop. Go back into your house,’ ” Murray told the Trib.

Pierre was arrested a short time later without incident.


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