Update: Men arrested in Chelsea bank robbery will face federal charges, were 'serious criminals'



A manhunt for one of two men suspected of robbing a Chelsea bank ended with the suspect giving himself up about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday in a quiet Pittsfield Township neighborhood.

The Washtenaw County Metro SWAT team managed to talk the man out of the home in the 3000 block of Highlander Way West without incident Tuesday evening. The man exited the home with his hands up before being surrounded by officers and led into the SWAT tank.

Pittsfield Township Public Safety Director Matt Harshberger said the 44-year-old Ferndale man who was arrested apparently chose the house at random. No one was home when he broke in, Harshberger said.

“We were initiating contact with him in some form or fashion over the course of a half hour or so,” Harshberger said. “Once the (SWAT) team went up and tried to make direct contact, that’s when things started happening and he ended up surrendering.”

The tank moved away from the home, located near a forested lowland near the meeting point of Highlander Way West and Highlander Way East in the Lake Forest neighborhood.

Harshberger said the man was being taken to a local hospital for evaluation, but did not appear to be injured. Harshberger said before the SWAT team arrived that police believed the 44-year-old man was armed, but he was unarmed when he was taken into custody.

The man was one of two men believed to have robbed a bank in Chelsea earlier Tuesday.

Police reported two men robbed the Key Bank, 1478 Chelsea-Manchester Road, about 1:50 p.m. Tuesday. According to Chelsea police, two masked men entered the bank with handguns.

“Alert Chelsea residents observed the pair walking from their cars to the bank in their hooded sweatshirts pulled tight to their faces,” the police statement read. “Moments later, witnesses spotted the pair running northbound from the bank, dropping money as they ran.”

The men fled in two separate vehicles. Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office deputies apprehended one of the men, a 44-year-old Detroit man, on Interstate 94, according to Sgt. Geoffrey Fox.

The second man continued to flee from an Ann Arbor Police Department unit that chased him and eventually exited I-94 at Ann Arbor-Saline Road. The man ditched his vehicle on Ann Arbor-Saline Road and then broke into the home on Highlander Way West.

It was a bizarre scene in a usually calm neighborhood, one with apple trees with full fruit falling onto the grass in front of some of the homes.

Steve Bennett, who couldn’t get to his house because of the investigation, said he’s lived in the neighborhood since 2003 or 2004. On the block where he lived, there were many kids the same age, or near the same age, as his son which made it an ideal place to raise the recent Pioneer High School graduate.

Bennett said he’d worked hard on Monday and was looking forward to using Tuesday evening as his time to relax and blow off some steam. That is until he found police in fatigues walking around with rifles.

“I saw dudes with military rifles and thought I’ll get out of the neighborhood in case bullets are flying,” he said.

He stood on Highlander Way East in a neighbor’s driveway, a few feet from where the street was closed off, but in full view of the home where the 44-year-old Ferndale man was holed up. “Not your typical day in the neighborhood,” he muttered while staring at the scene.

Police blocked off Highlander Way West near the entrance to neighborhood off of Ellsworth Road, but residents were milling about taking pictures and watching the police vehicles. Most views of the scene were blocked off by law enforcement vehicles.

“Nothing ever happens here,” said Diane Watt, who lived across the street and a few homes down from the scene. “That’s why everyone’s out and gawking”

Watt said she came home about 3 p.m. and saw approximately 20 police vehicles in front of the home. She was on the other side of the police tape and able to get to her home, but she thought it was best to keep herself and her children inside.

Only when the Michigan State Police helicopter circling overhead left the area, and the SWAT tank drove away with the suspect inside did Watt exit her home to let her dog out.

An hour after the suspect was arrested, Lake Forest was starting to return to normal. Children were out running around on Highlander Way East and people were walking their dogs. However, Watt said, half-jokingly, that the neighborhood’s innocence had been lost.

“Utopia is broken,” she said with a chuckle.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter.