Police make arrest in bank robbery, bomb investigation

UPDATE: Columbia police arrested Jeffrey York, 59, of Columbia, in connection with the bank robbery and bomb investigation at HyVee on West Broadway Friday.

Online court records indicate prosecutors charged York with robbery and terrorist threat late Friday afternoon.

Records also indicate York is being held without bond.

ORIGINAL: Authorities were investigating a black SUV parked in a handicap space outside HyVee on West Broadway late Friday afternoon following a bank robbery. The SUV was later taken out of the parking lot, leaving behind a pile of glass from the SUV.

Authorities arrived on the scene and the building was evacuated. HyVee’s store director said they had at least 100 employees on-staff inside the store at the time.

Columbia Police Department spokesman Steve Sapp said a man came into the store at about 11:20 a.m. and passed a note to a teller at the Commerce Bank branch demanding money and saying he had an explosive device.

Sapp said the robber left in an unknown direction after getting money from the teller. The man also put an explosive device in a vehicle on the parking lot, Sapp said. Members of the bomb squad, CPD and Missouri State Highway Patrol were at the scene.

Police later found a suspicious package inside a car and the bomb squad planned to render it harmless using a high-pressure water system. An explosive was safely detonated at about 2 p.m. and police began to clear the scene.

Sapp described the robber as a white man, about 70 years old, wearing a camouflage shirt and stained blue jeans.

Several schools were put on modified lockdown because the incident was nearby. During a modified lockdown no one is allowed into or out of the buildings — doors are already locked at all times. Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said West Middle School, Smithton Middle School, Paxton Keeley Elementary School, Fairview Elementary School, Russell Boulevard Elementary School and the Aslin Administration Building were all on modified lockdown. She also said Our Lady of Lourdes Interparish School was on modified lockdown.

Baumstark said in an email at about 1:15 p.m. that the lockdowns were lifted.

Police urge anyone with information to call CPD at 573-874-7653 or CrimeStoppers at 573-875-8477 to remain anonymous.

This story will continue to be updated as it develops.