By Jared Morgan
Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN A homeless man was arrested by police just minutes after he allegedly robbed a Santa Monica bank on Saturday, causing a commotion that left visitors and area workers holed up indoors while police secured the area.

Mark Collett, 45, reportedly walked out of the Citibank at 501 Santa Monica Blvd. with more than $3,500 before being apprehended one block away — near the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, said Lt. Alex Padilla of the Santa Monica Police Department.

“The guy ran down the sidewalk and, like, 13 cops ran from across Santa Monica Boulevard to catch him,” said Mathias Nani, a clerk at Hi De Ho Comics, which is located near the intersection where Collett was apprehended.

Customers and employees at Hi De Ho were told by Santa Monica police officers to stay indoors for more than an hour, Nani said.

“It was crazy. I saw a cop car come down the street and noticed that there were police everywhere,” said Cam Lewis, an employee of Goodwill, located just across the street. “I thought it was funny. They already had the guy down and more police came.”

Police cars, paramedics and fire trucks were all on the scene, with a police officer conducting traffic amid the early afternoon chaos.

“(The suspect) was on the ground, his face was bloody. That’s the fastest I’ve seen [Santa Monica Police] move,” said Kimberly Hafey, a receptionist at the nearby Healing Bodyworks. “They quickly locked everything down.”

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