\\”We have reason to believe he may still be in the woods; there\u2019s some indication somebody may be in there right now.\u201d
\nThose were the words of Tyrone Police Chief Joseph Beachem when he addressed the media shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday regarding the suspect wanted in a 12:30 p.m. bank robbery at Citizens Bank at 501 Third Street in Tyrone.
\nBy about 6 p.m., police had wound down an extensive manhunt that included several police agencies, a helicopter, dogs and door-to-door searches.
\nThe day\u2019s events also included a lockdown at the Tyrone Area School District and the brief closing of a store while a police helicopter hovered overhead.
\nPolice issued photos taken from video surveillance cameras that showed a man approaching tellers. Chief Beachem described the suspect as a white male about six feet tall, weighing 175 to 180 pounds with a ball cap with a blue brim, white t-shirt, baggy jeans and sneakers.
\nBeachem said the suspect appeared to be using a silver semiautomatic handgun that looked to be of larger caliber. He could not verify the exact make or model. Beachem told The Herald, the suspect made off with about $312.
\nThe FBI headed yesterday\u2019s investigation, which is usual procedure in bank robberies. In addition to several Tyrone Police officers, a forensic services unit from the Hollidaysburg State Police was involved in the investigation. Chief Beachem said Bellwood Police also assisted.
\nEarlier in the search, police focused on the Sylvan Acres apartments after getting information from a resident. Chief Beachem said a traffic stop was conducted for a brief time early in the search, but authorities then focused on the suspect being on foot.
\nTyrone Area School Superintendent Dr. William N. Miller said the school activated its lockdown system shortly after the robbery.
\n\u201cStudents that were practicing in band came inside the school, we closed the doors and (went into) lockdown,\u201d said Dr. Miller.
\nThe football team was at the Bull Pen Restaurant at the time the lockdown was put into effect. The team remained there during the situation.
\nDr. Miller said about 60 to 70 band students were kept in the school building and parents came to pick up students and they were released as parents arrived throughout the afternoon.
\nAt the Bull Pen, the football team continued on their efforts to prepare for the upcoming season. They were later picked up by parents or were eventually allowed to go home.
\nDr. Miller said all of the students at the school and the Bull Pen were released by around 6 p.m. The district also canceled all other scheduled activities for the rest of the day and evening. Dr. Miller said the district was back on a normal schedule as of this morning.
\nAround 4:30 p.m. yesterday, the Dollar General store closed for about an hour while a police helicopter focused its search over an area in Snyder Township. Officials closed the store for safety reasons according to an on-duty manager.
\nShortly after 6:30 p.m. yesterday, Chief Beachem told The Daily Herald there were no new significant developments in the case. This morning, he said the investigation was continuing and authorities are looking at different leads.
\nAfter last night\u2019s Tyrone Borough Council meeting, Mayor Jim Kilmartin commented on the robbery.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s a tragedy to have these things happen in our community, and I hope our community can come together and identify this person,\u201d said Mayor Kilmartin. \u201cThe Tyrone Police force has done a tremendous job in everything they\u2019ve been doing. I\u2019m very sure they\u2019ll get this taken care of as they have in the past.\u201d
\nA representative of Citizens Bank in Tyrone said the business was operating on its normal schedule today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\\”We have reason to believe he may still be in the woods; there\u2019s some indication somebody may be in there right now.\u201d Those were the words of Tyrone Police Chief Joseph Beachem when he addressed the media shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday regarding the suspect wanted in a 12:30 p.m. bank robbery at Citizens Bank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40728\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}