Bank Robbery Suspect Caught at Stormonth School

A man suspected of attempting to rob Guaranty Bank in Brown Deer Thursday afternoon was apprehended just outside the playground on the south side of in Fox Point just before 3 p.m.

Brown Deer police say the department received a 911 call from an employee at the bank, 4000 W. Brown Deer Rd., around 2:20 p.m. saying that a man wearing a mask and carrying a loaded gun had just attempted to rob the business. An employee locked the door before the man could get inside. When he could not get in, he fled the scene in a gold Lexus.

Police pursued the man through Glendale along Silver Spring Drive and into Fox Point before he lost control of the car due to a blown tire near Stormonth School, 7301 N Longacre Rd., and jumped out, fleeing on foot. He was then apprehended by multiple officers from area departments, including Fox Point and Glendale.

Katy Johnson lives right across the street from where the man was apprehended by police.

"I was standing in my mom's kitchen and all of a sudden, I saw the Lexus coming down the road like so fast and then I saw all these cop cars coming from everywhere," Johnson said. "Then they were going through the soccer field and I'm like, 'Oh my God, the kids!'

"Three cop cars came through there, one was in the ditch over there. This guy got out of the car and just started running. They took him down right before the the soccer net."

Donna Becker, who also lives across the street from the school, said she heard a big crash and she went outside so fast, officers told her to go back inside because they had not apprehended the man yet.

"We were sitting inside, my sister and I, and we could hear that there was a lot of sirens coming," Becker said. "You could hear they were down Lake Drive and all around here. A Glendale cop was in the ditch."

Becker, like Johnson, said she was most worried about the children. Becker said she had just gotten home a little after 2 p.m. and the kids were just heading in from recess. Shortly after that, the robber came tearing through the Stormonth soccer field.

"My biggest concern was these children. How he got all the way over here is just amazing. I don't know if he knows the streets or just trying... The noise was unbelievable," she said.

Katie Millar Bucholtz said her daughter, who attends the school, described the incident.

"Kaitlyn said they locked the doors and pulled the blinds, and she's still pretty shook up," Bucholtz said in a Facebook post.

In a message to parents posted on the Fox Point-Bayside School District's website, officials said the robbery suspect was apprehended on a road near the school playground with little resistance. The incident was over in about 15 minutes, but police remained on the scene until about 3:30 p.m.

"Classroom teachers were alerted to keep children off the playground (recess periods had just ended) and to keep children in their classrooms until the entire school area was confirmed as safe by the police," the district said. "Teachers were also asked to keep their students away from the windows. Children who noticed the police presence were advised that this very likely could be a police exercise similar to a fire drill – since there was no other information immediately available."

The school quickly resumed to normal with all classes engaged in their planned activities. Dismissal procedures were adjusted to assure all students were safe and not upset by the police presence," the statement said.