MONTICELLO — A Lawrence County financial center was robbed ofan undisclosed amount of cash Friday morning and the search forthree suspects continues this weekend.

The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office was notified at 9:21 a.m.that Ferguson Federal Credit Union had been the victim of an armedrobbery, said Sheriff Joel Thames.

The investigation has been taken over by the Federal Bureau ofInvestigations. The sheriff’s office, District Attorney’s Officeand investigators with the Mississippi Highway Patrol areassisting, he said.

“We received a 911 call and the bank alarm nearlysimultaneously,” Thames said. “(The tellers) were too terrified tohit the (alarm) button when they first came in and one hit it whenthey left while another person called 911.”

The sheriff said that through the statements of witnesses, lawenforcement officials have been able to piece together some of thechronology of the crime.

According to Thames, one of the men entered the credit union andwent to the restroom. He saw there were only three credit unionemployees and no customers in the building.

When he went outside, two other men entered the building wearingski masks and surgical gloves. One was brandishing a revolver.

The two men then gathered the money and joined the third in apre-1994 model Ford F-250 white extended cab pickup. The vehicleleft traveling west on N.A. Sandifer Highway, according toThames.

“We’re still trying to run some leads down,” he said. “We’rehoping to find the vehicle.”

Thames said that this early in the investigation officials couldnot determine if the second man who entered the credit union wasalso armed.

In the wake of Ferguson Federal’s first robbery, credit unionboard members and officials are evaluating their security measuresto see if anything can be done to strengthen them, Thames said.They are also discussing more concrete reactionary measures withthe sheriff’s office, he said.

Anyone with information on the crime or the location of thepickup is urged to call the sheriff’s office at 587-2961 or theMcComb office of the FBI.