Bellingham Police were called to a robbery in the 1200 block of N. State Street at 9:55 a.m. on February 7, 2022. The suspect fled prior to officers arriving. Detectives were called out and the suspect was identified as Martin Mora-Lopez, 32, Bellingham, within a few hours, located and arrested without incident. He was booked into the Whatcom County Jail for robbery 1st degree.
Employees of Key Bank in the 1200 block of N. State Street called 9-1-1 after Mora-Lopez came into the bank, implied he had a gun and demanded cash. The employee handed the cash over and Mora-Lopez left the bank and fled on foot. Police K-9 Destro and his handler responded to the bank robbery and tracked away from the scene. Though, the suspect was not located, K-9 Destro was able to find several items of evidence (clothing) discarded by Mora-Lopez as he fled. BPD Crime Scene Investigators collected and impounded the clothing evidence. Another officer recognized Mora-Lopez from an early morning trespass call, where he was wearing the exact clothing as during the bank robbery.
Mora-Lopez was positively identified, found, and arrested by BPD at approximately 1:00 p.m. BPD patrol officers and detectives developed probable cause for robbery 1st degree based on Mora-Lopez’ actions today. He was booked into the Whatcom County Jail.
