64-year-old Russell Lee Carruth of Lerain Court in Statesville was arrested Friday (September 22) by Troutman Police Officers. He’s charged with attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of second-degree kidnapping.

Friday (September 22) at 9:04 a.m. Troutman Police Department officers were dispatched to a silent hold-up alarm at Truist Bank on Wagner Street. While officers were responding they were informed by communications that this was a confirmed bank robbery in progress. As officers were arriving in the area the suspect left the bank and fled on foot.

Due to the incident’s location being within a block of both Troutman Elementary School and Troutman Middle School, both of these schools were placed on precautionary lockdowns. Employees of the bank were able to provide a detailed description of the suspect as well as information that the subject was armed with a large knife.

Officers quickly found the suspect and engaged in a foot pursuit resulting in them taking him into custody on Rumple Street in close proximity to Troutman Elementary School. The suspect was identified as Russell Lee Carruth.

The suspect was taken before an Iredell County Magistrate where he was ordered held on a $400,000 secured bond in the Iredell County Detention Center. A court date is scheduled Monday (September 25). Carruth is currently on federal probation for a previous bank robbery conviction. The Troutman Police Department has been in contact with federal officers as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations due to Carruth’s prior history of bank robbery offenses.

[Photo of Carruth courtesy of Iredell County P2C website]