Three male suspects wearing black fatigues and armed with shotguns stormed into the Promerica Bank branch located inside the Office Depot store in the upscale community of Escazu, located in the western suburbs of the capital city of Costa Rica.

According to a new report filed by metro reporter Jason Torres of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, the suspects took 250,000 colones from the bank (about $473 at today’s exchange rate), but they actually dropped about $378 on their way out of the Office Depot store.

It so happens that one of the automatic doors got stuck as the suspects attempted to leave the premises with their hastily obtained loot. In their hurry to avoid running into law enforcement, they dropped most of the money as they kicked open the stuck door.

As patrol cars from Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica) made their way to Escazu from San Jose, the suspects jumped into a Nissan compact car operated by a getaway driver. As the driver of the getaway vehicle tried to negotiate the early afternoon traffic, which tends to be quite busy in that part of town, he lost control, hit another car and ended up crashing against a bridge abutment.

After their escape vehicle crashed, the suspects continued on foot and commandeered a Mercedes Benz sports utility vehicle, removing the driver at gunpoint. They escaped in the SUV towards the municipality of Santa Ana. Fuerza Publica officers searched the crashed Nissan and discovered a shotgun and various dark balaclavas. Initial reports of a hostage situation were dismissed as police searched for the suspects.