Police hunt for gunman after Frost Bank robbed
A man robbed a downtown bank at gunpoint and forced tellers into a bathroom before fleeing Thursday afternoon.
No one was injured in the robbery, which prompted dozens of police officers, including a SWAT team and zero tolerance officers, to surround the Frost Bank at 777 Main St.
Sgt. Steve Enright said the robber entered the bank around 1 p.m., displayed a handgun and demanded money from a teller, who complied.
“The robber then demanded all the tellers escort him to a bathroom inside the bank,” Enright said. “He had all the tellers go inside the bathroom at which time he left without incident.”
He was still at large late Thursday.
Enright said police methodically searched the officer tower after concerns were raised that the robber could still be inside.
Surveillance footage, however, later confirmed that the man had left the building, prompting police to expand their search, he said.
Enright say the downtown bank robbery was unusual.
“We usually see them in smaller strip centers and one story stand-alone banks,” Enright said. “To see something downtown in a highrise does definitely present some new problems and situation that we have to contend with.”
As police searched the building, employees from offices in the officer tower stood outside.
Karen Bullard, a legal assistant who works in an attorney’s office on the 18th floor, said she had just returned from lunch and had parked in the building’s parking garage. She entered the building to find SWAT team members dressed in green at every door and elevator.
“There were two policemen out there and they let me in the parking garage but as soon as I walked across the concourse, they said I couldn’t use the elevator and to go outside,” Bullard said.
Deanna Boyd, 817-390-7655
This story was originally published February 12, 2015 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Police hunt for gunman after Frost Bank robbed."