Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested an 81-year-old man who robbed a University Place bank Thursday morning.

Around 9:50 a.m., the man walked into a Key Bank at 2424 Mildred Street West and pointed a semiautomatic pistol at the teller, according to Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer. Witnesses described the bandit as wearing a hat and having a grey beard. The robber fled in a tan 2008 Subaru; within three minutes of responding to the scene, deputy Dan Hacker spotted the getaway vehicle on the 2700 block of Bridgeport Way.

The man, who is from Allyn, was pulled over, taken into custody without incident and booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of first-degree armed robbery. “He didn’t get very far,” Troyer said. “Our guys in U.P. are really good at shutting off the main arterials very fast.”

Troyer added that the man had been arrested for bank robbery 40 years ago. The man, who is not being named because charges have not been filed, has lived in Gig Harbor and Tacoma.

“He’s probably our oldest bank robber to date,” Troyer said. “The economy forced him out of retirement.”