Bend police still in hunt for Taco Del Mar robber
A bearded man wearing a red baseball cap and displaying a pistol in his waistband held up the Taco Del Mar on Bend’s north end Monday evening and ran off, triggering a manhunt in the area that failed to find him. The search continued Tuesday, with more details of his description released.
The initial report of the robbery came shortly before 6:45 p.m. at the Mexican food restaurant at the Cascade Village Shopping Center off Highways 97 and 20.
Initial reports indicated the man was given money and ran toward the north. Police converged and began searching the nearby wooded area, a former golf driving range, some homes in the vicinity and some transient camps as well in the area of Cooley and Hunnel roads.
The first description was of a thin white male adult, about 6 feet tall. The suspect was wearing a red baseball cap, thick black beard and red plaid shirt. The money was placed in a brown plastic grocery bag.
Lt. Chris Carney said Tuesday the man, who apparently acted alone, was wearing a red flat-billed hat, sunglasses, a red and blue plaid shirt with a T-shirt underneath, baggy long pants and a leather belt.
While there was an initial unconfirmed scanner report that the robber had a pit bull-type dog with him, Carney said that turned out there was such a dog in the area, but unrelated to the suspect.
Bend police used their Twitter account to pass word of the holdup in real time, at one point tweeting: “Robbery suspect is considered armed and dangerous — do not approach, call 911.”
Later, they said Bend police and Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office K-9 teams were assisting in the search and asked people to avoid the area.
Around 9:40 p.m., police issued yet another tweet, saying they had “no additional info” to share publicly about the holdup.
“Will hope for a break overnight as officers continue to follow up leads and evaluate evidence,” they added.
Police were following up Tuesday on more sightings in the area of men appearing to match the suspect’s description.
