Iowa City Schools End Lockdown After Police Apprehend Suspect in Hills Bank Robbery

A robbery at a local bank had a wide-reaching effect this morning as police sent out alerts to area schools, prompting lockdowns while officers were in pursuit of the suspect.

The school district cleared the lockdown at approximately 10:45 a.m.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that a Iowa City police were searching for a man who robbed at Hills Bank at 1401 S. Gilbert St. and attempted to flee on motorcycle. This man was later apprehended by police. It all happened in a little over an hour's time. The Press-Citizen has a detailed breakdown of the chase here.

At the time of the robbery this e-mail was sent out to University of Iowa Hawk Alert subscribers:

“EMERGENCY HAWK ALERT, 4/23/2012, 10:16 AM:   Iowa City and University of Iowa Police are searching for an armed robbery suspect in the Lodge Apt to 900 block of Harlocke St area.  Stay out of the area. Meanwhile, anyone with information about this situation is encouraged to call 911.”

The Iowa City School District also reacted, issuing a lockdown order:

At approximately 9:40 a.m. today, April 23, 2012, our district received information from law enforcement which has caused us to implement precautionary safety procedures.  Iowa City Police indicated they are in pursuit of an armed bank robbery suspect in the west side vicinity.

We initially went into hard lock down at these schools:
·        West High
·        Northwest Junior High
·        Weber Elementary
        Lincoln Elementary
·        Horn Elementary
·        Kirkwood Elementary
·        Coralville Central Elementary
·        Roosevelt Elementary

At this time all schools moved to soft lock down with the exception of Roosevelt and Horn.  Student safety is our primary concern.  We will share further information as it is received.

By 10:46 a.m. the school district issued an alert that the man had been apprehended and the lockdown was cleared.