Emmaus Police Respond to Possible Bank Robbery at Sovereign Bank

Police dogs and a search helicopter have been deployed for what looks like a manhunt in connection to a possible bank robbery at , 1215 Chestnut St, Emmaus.

According to scanner reports, police are searching for a white man wearing a black T-shirt and sweatpants. He is suspected of robbing the bank with a silver, semi-automatic handgun.

Reports also indicate that police and SWAT teams have surrounded a cornfield along Lower Macungie and Riverbend Roads.

Police are acting on a call after the robbery about a white male in a black T-shirt who was seen running through the cornfield.

"He did not look like a farmer," the caller said.

Police are also searching the apartment complex behind the bank and across from Emmaus High School.

was put on lockdown and the summer school students are safe.

At the bank, yellow crime-scene tape now surrounds the scene, with officers and employees still inside.

One Sovereign employee was allowed to leave just long enough to give a hug to her mother, who had parked her car in the lot, waiting to get word from her daughter.

There have been no reports that anyone has been hurt.

Lehigh County dispatch confirmed the call came in at 10:30 a.m. That was about the time when David Gross, manager of the in the East Penn Plaza Shopping Center, was dropping off his morning deposit at the bank.

Gross said the door to the bank was locked, and the manager waived him off from inside. As Gross walked back to the Smoke Shop, Emmaus police arrived with guns drawn.

The bank has been closed since, and is being used as the command post.

K9 units from Emmaus and Allentown have been deployed. Salisbury Police, State Police and many other area units have been called in for help.

The same Sovereign Bank on July 2, 2010. And today's call comes seven months after the on Main Street in Emmaus that involved a shoot-out with police.

The will hold a press conference in the parking lot of Emmaus High School later this afternoon to disclose further details.