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Lockdowns lifted at 4 Tampa schools

Staff photo by WALLY PATANOW

Tampa police are investigating a bank robbery that happened at Grow Financial , 315 S. Boulevard, around 12:30pm.

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TBO.com

Published: September 24, 2009

Updated: 09/24/2009 05:12 pm

TAMPA - A lockdown at four Hillsborough County schools was lifted after Tampa police went into a nearby home and didn't find a bank robbery suspect.

Blake High, Stewart Middle, Just Elementary and Dunbar Elementary had been in lockdown, with students being kept on campus, as police searched for the suspect.

Officials lifted the lockdown at around 3:45 p.m., said Andrea Davis, police spokeswoman.

Davis said police got a tip that one suspect in the bank robbery was at a home on the 1700 block of West Chestnut St. The homeowner allowed the police to search the home, but the suspect was not there, she said.

The robbery occurred about 12:24 p.m. at Grow Financial, 315 S. Boulevard, police said. Davis said there were two masked suspects who robbed the bank.

It is police department practice to lock down schools when they get a tip or threat of an armed suspect who is spotted near a school, Davis said.

When it was getting close to dismissal time, police didn't want the children walking the streets as a search was going on for a potentially armed suspect, she said.

Buses for all magnet schools countywide were delayed because of the lockdown, said Linda Cobbe, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County School district.

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