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Bouquet brandishing bandit holds up New York bank

By Jesse Solomon, CNN
The petal-packing perpetrator quickly fled the scene, but left his blossoming bait behind.
The petal-packing perpetrator quickly fled the scene, but left his blossoming bait behind.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Police said bandit had bouquet
  • He did not have a weapon, police say
  • Incident latest in string of strange robberies
RELATED TOPICS
  • Crime
  • Robbery
  • New York City

New York (CNN) -- Police are looking for a smooth stickup artist who they say pulled off a bank heist last week wielding only a bouquet of fresh flowers.

According to police, the romantic robber entered the Bank of Smith Town

in New York's Chelsea neighborhood shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday, where he approached the teller and removed a demand note from inside bouquet, which was draped in pink tissue paper.

"Give me all your $100s, 50's, don't be a hero," the budding bandit told the clerk.

After the teller forked over the cash, the petal-packing perpetrator quickly fled the scene, but left his blossoming bait behind.

The suspect, described as a male between the ages of 30 and 35, was not carrying any dangerous weapons, police said.

The incident comes on the heels of a string of strange robberies in New York. Earlier this month, a man thought to be in his 60s or 70s tried to knock off an upscale clothing store while carrying a cane and wearing a nasal tube connected to an oxygen tank. And in June, a thief hit a Manhattan shoe store while donning a cat mask.