MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies have one gunman in custody, but another is still on the street after the two men robbed a bank in The Woodlands on Thursday morning.
Deputies say at around 7:30 a.m. two men brandishing handguns confronted bank employees as they were opening the Wells Fargo Bank on Research Forest Drive at Kuykendahl Road. The suspects escorted the employees inside and demanded money. A witness heard one of the employees scream, then saw one of the men carrying a gun go in the bank's back door. The witness called 911.
A patrol car arrived minutes later as one of the suspects was leaving the bank through the front door. The deputy confronted the suspect who then fled on foot. Officers caught up with him and arrested him behind a home about a mile and a half away.
The second suspect fled on foot through different door, setting off a search by ground and air that lasted the better part of three hours. The bank is surrounded by homes, businesses and schools.
Several Conroe ISD schools went into "security alert" mode while authorities searched for the man. The schools included Buckalew Elementary, Bush Elementary, Galatas Elementary, Powell Elementary, Mitchell Intermediate, and The Woodlands High School.
The search was called off at around 11am. The school lockdown was lifted about an hour later.
The second suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of money.
He is described as a heavy-set black male, last seen wearing a black hoodie, a black bandana, dark Dickies-style pants, and he was wearing black and white gloves.