Chris Rossi/The Gazette
SWAT team members load up in search of bank robbery suspects in the Ventura complex in Burtonsville.
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This story was updated at 5:12 p.m.
A daylong manhunt in Burtonsville has been suspended after police apprehended one of two armed and dangerous men being sought in connection with a bank robbery in Howard County this morning. The other is no longer believed to be in the area, according to Montgomery County Police.
A third suspect was shot and killed by police during a shootout in the Greencastle area at about 10 a.m.
Several schools in the area were in Code Blue lockdown and students who live in the search area were being held at the schools until police issued dismissal. Vehicle traffic was restricted to residents who lived in the area and vehicles in the area were being stopped and searched.
As a precaution police are asking residents not to open their doors to strangers or pick up hitchhikers. Residents also should call 9-1-1 to report any suspicious people or situations.
Police have not released the name of the man in custody or the man who was killed. Police say there is no confirmed description of the suspect at large. An earlier news release from Howard County Police described the suspects as black with light complexions and between 18 and 20 years old.
The men bailed out of their vehicle shortly before 10 a.m. in the area of Angelton Court and Greencastle Road after a car chase through Howard, Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Montgomery counties involving police from several jurisdictions.
The men fled on foot and there was an exchange of gunfire between at least one of the men and police from Howard and Prince George's counties as well as Maryland State Police. One man was shot and transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries, according to a news release from Montgomery County Police.
No police were injured in the exchange. It has not been confirmed which police agency was responsible for firing the fatal round, according to the release.
Police dogs, helicopters and officers from several jurisdictions joined the search in an area bordered by Briggs Chaney Road, Old Columbia Pike and Greencastle Road.
The manhunt began about 9:15 a.m. when Howard County police were dispatched to a bank alarm from the Bank of America on the 6300 block of Ten Oaks Road in Clarksville. Howard police reported that three black, possibly Hispanic, males entered the bank and announced a robbery. One of the men shot a bank employee in the hand before all three fled in a pickup truck, according to Howard County police spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Reidy.
"A citizen followed the truck as it fled the bank and called police to let them know where they were and provided police with updates," Reidy said.
Howard County officers initiated a pursuit of the vehicle at 9:20 a.m., chasing the suspect vehicle into Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Montgomery counties and receiving back up from local police jurisdictions and a Baltimore County police helicopter, Reidy said.
At about 9:44 a.m., the men abandoned the vehicle on Angelton Court in Greencastle and fled. The shootout and manhunt followed.
Montgomery County Police Emergency Communications Center began a reverse 9-1-1 call system to notify area residents in the area of the shooting and search. Several Burtonsville-area school went into Code Blue emergency procedures which means students have been accounted for and are not allowed to leave the campus, according to Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison.
