LIGONIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Police are investigating a violent robbery at First Commonwealth Bank in Ligonier Township, along with a possible diversionary shooting at a nearby store.
The hold-up at the bank on Route 30 happened at about 9:28 a.m. Wednesday. Police said the robbers yelled profanities and ordered everyone to lie down, then forced an employee to open the bank's vault and pistol-whipped him.
The robbers were described as four black males who wore motorcycle or paintball helmets.
Just minutes before the robbery, gunshots were fired outside a Dollar General store on South Fairfield Street. Store windows were hit, leaving bullet holes in the glass, but nobody was hurt.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that the shots were fired by the robbers -- or perhaps some accomplices -- to draw attention away from the bank.
A similar scenario unfolded in New Kensington on April 3, when police responded to a shooting at a convenience store while armed robbers wearing suits and straw hats stole large bags full of cash from a National City Bank.
The robbers acted violently in the April case, similar to the Wednesday robbery.
FBI Agent David Hedges said a possible connection between the two cases is being investigated.
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