An alleged Utah bank robber wearing a "wired vest" has been handcuffed and ordered not to move while a police bomb squad robot determines whether or not the suspect is wearing an explosive device, the Associated Press reported.
The unidentified suspect reportedly robbed a Zions Bank branch before escaping on foot on Thursday morning, the Salt Lake City Police Department said. When police authorities caught up with him and had him handcuffed, they realized that the suspect was wearing a suspicious vest and immediately backed away.
Currently, officials have cleared a street on the west side of Salt Lake City while the suspect, who is lying on the sidewalk and has wires hanging off his vest, gets inspected by the bomb squad, Police Sgt. Robin Heiden said.
"They'll communicate with him back and forth through that robot and then they'll use the, for lack of a better name, the hands from that to then maybe pull that vest off to inspect it to see exactly what it is before we send a person in there to deal with it," said Heiden.
Around 10 a.m. on Thursday, police were alerted to a robbery at a nearby Zions Bank, Heiden said. The suspect, who was described to be wearing a motorcycle helmet wrapped with cloth, had reportedly robbed the bank by threatening employees with a gun or an explosive device.
After locating a man matching the description, police officers apparently struggled to handcuff the uncooperative suspect but were forced to back off after noticing a wired-explosive vest.
"They immediately backed off after they got him secured and called the bomb squad," he said.
With the suspect being instructed to stay in place, the bomb squad's robot is now working to determine what type of vest the man is wearing, Heiden said, adding that police snipers were stationed on top of a nearby building in case the suspect attempted to stand up and run.
Meanwhile, Heiden had no details about the man's identity. This is a developing situation. More information will be added as it becomes available.
