HOMER - Banks County Sheriff Carlton Speed is releasing more details of the armed robbery of a Homer credit union at 10:20 a.m. Thursday.
"We had a subject walk into the Habersham Federal Credit Union here in Homer," Speed said. "The subject pointed a weapon at the teller and demanded money. She gave him an undisclosed amount of money at this time. The subject then fled the scene."
Deputies arrived and set up a perimeter around the area, closing some streets in Homer. Nearby school camps and businesses were asked to institute lockdowns during the search.
Personnel from Banks County Sheriff's Office were assisted by Hall County Sheriff's Office K-9 units, Lee Arrendale State Prison K-9 unit, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Public Safety Motor Carrier Compliance Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
"At approximately 1 p.m. this afternoon, a subject of interest was taken into custody, and at this time we have turned the investigation over to the GBI and they are leading the investigation and they are leading the investigation at this time with our assistance," Speed said.
The man's name has not been released.
Heat provides challenge for law enforcement
The hot weather again provided a challenge for law enforcement personnel who were searching for the man who committed the robbery at the credit union on Evans Street.
"The dogs overheated pretty quickly," Speed said. "That's one of the reasons that we had to have so many K-9 teams in the area. With the temperatures extreme like they are, the dogs can go for an hour, or two hours maybe, and then they become physically exhausted - we have to get them cooled down. Then the officers as well, wearing all the protective gear and everything that they're doing, plus physical exhaustion, exertion that they're putting forward trying to apprehend the suspect."
Additionally, nature provided other challenges for the search teams.
"All the officers that were on the K-9 deployment unit got into a yellowjackets' nest and were stung multiple times," Speed said. "One officer from Hall County was actually stung inside the mouth. All of them were stung multiple times, and it was a very trying time for the K-9s and the officers that were trying to apprehend the suspect."
Speed said Dr. John Gray from Clarkesville Veterinary administered first aid to the dogs.
"They had cuts, bruises, heat exhaustion - he tried to cool them down," Speed said. "We also had Banks County Fire and EMS on scene, and they cooled all the guys down and checked them and made sure that nobody was dehydrated and didn't need any fluids."
