Topeka bank robbery has Lawrence connection

A lookout for a suspect involved in a Topeka bank robbery was under way in Lawrence on Thursday evening, but the search ended more than 200 miles west of here instead.

After a U.S. Bank branch in Topeka was robbed after 4 p.m. Thursday, a Topeka police dispatcher said officers were looking for a blue Volkswagen Jetta that had a license plate registered to an address in Lawrence. Police were also looking for an Asian male in his 20s as a suspect in the robbery at the bank, 1064 SW Wanamaker Road.

Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman, said at 5 p.m. Thursday that Lawrence detectives were watching to see whether the vehicle returned to the city.

Topeka police said later Thursday night that the car had been stopped and suspects apprehended by the Kansas Highway Patrol in Ellis County. Agents from the Topeka branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue investigating the case.