Bank Robbery Suspect Taken Into Custody After Brackenridge Standoff
BRACKENRIDGE (KDKA) -- Law enforcement officials took a bank robbery suspect into custody Tuesday morning after surrounding a home in Brackenridge.
A heavy police presence, along with the SWAT team and FBI, converged on the intersection of 8th Avenue at Morgan Street after 9 a.m.
An FBI spokesperson says Thomas George, a bank robbery suspect, barricaded himself inside a home there.
He eventually surrendered and was taken into custody.
The criminal complaint, which the district attorney's office says has been filed, says the Allegheny-Ludlum Brackenridge Federal Credit Union in Brackenridge was robbed on July 10.
The robber was an unknown white male, later identified as George. Police say he walked into the bank wearing a "Guy Fawkes" style mask. He reportedly pointed a handgun at the tellers and stole approximately $101,000 in only fives and tens.
Police say they used an eyewitness tip and surveillance camera footage to connect a dark blue Ford Escape to George.
The vehicle was registered under George's name, police say.
The registration led them to a house where they found the Ford Escape and another vehicle that was connected to multiple robberies at other shopping locations like the Pittsburgh Mills Mall and Tanger Outlets.
According to the criminal complaint, when law enforcement officials knocked on the door of what they believed to be George's residence, his adult daughter opened the door.
Law enforcement officials asked everyone in the house to come out, and they say George's wife, another woman believed to be his mother or mother-in-law and George's teenage grandson came out of the house.
The grandson told officials that George was in the basement with a handgun. He also reportedly told officials there were two young grandchildren, approximately ages 3 and 7, still in the house on the first floor.
Law enforcement officials said they called the house telephone number and tried to talk to George. At this time, they also removed the two grandchildren from the house.
Police say George made multiple statements that implicated himself in the bank robbery.
Eventually, George surrendered to law enforcement and was placed under arrest.