Thanks for the timely info. I know a lot of parents were very concerned after the school district's notification. Please keep us updated as to when the schools plan to release the students!

Thank you so much for this information!! I went here right after I got the messages on my phone and my e-mails. Our kids are safe...I know the schools will keep our kids safe.

They should post security camera images of the suspects to get the word out and to help someone spot these thugs. Thank God no one was hurt. Hats off to the district for taking kids safety seriously.

I only wish the robo call would have included the information about the bank so I didn't panic about anything else that could have been happening (bomb threat/immediate danger to public had I been heading to the grocery store, etc.) in fact, to know that there was a gun wielding thief on the loose would have been good public info in general and the school robo call system would have been a good way to spread that info! Thanks for answering my call, Mike. I know you are probably getting flooded with calls right now! You're a good editor/reporter/friend! :)

Please let us know if you find out they have released the kids. Thanks so much!! Patch is so wonderful for this community... Thanks for the information.

There was bank robbery in Bloomington this morning too.

They are letting the kids out now. I really wish they would have waited until the robber was caught!

It was helpful to have some kind of information since the schools were unreachable to find out what was going on.

Thank you Patch you provided a great service to our community today...

C'mon "Fan." Let's keep it focused here.

Thanks for the kudos. What a week!

Manda - the schools were given an "all clear" from the FBI and local law enforcement BEFORE letting any kids on a bus. Feeling is the suspect wouldn't have fled into a residential neighborhood with I-94 a few hundred feet away.

Great job by our School District for taking action and for the Patch for knowing the details.

Yes, thanks for the info Patch! You are becoming my first stop for news in the area!

Yes, thanks Patch! This was my first stop after I got the robocall.

Nice work, Patch staff!

After receiving the cryptic alert from the school, I went to the 3 big local tv stations' websites and found nothing about what was going on at home. Then I remembered the Patch. Thanks for bringing the info to us first, and keeping us updated!

Yes thank you, and feel free to edit any crazy bloggers that start going off on random tangents on unrelated issues. This is the first place I went when I got the call.

Ditto to all the Kudos above. Ironically, I just found Patch this morning when I googled for the election results.
Thanks for all the updates. Well done!

Is there a way to make replies to a thread more like a tweet update? meaning not numerous emails that say someone has replied. Tends to be inefficient. Like this site for news.

GREAT JOB PATCH!!! I was in Maple Grove when I got the robo call on my cell. I immediately went to the Patch app on my phone and found out what was going on. Also a big thumbs up to Dist 885 for making the safety of our children a top priority, and for keeping the parents informed!

The Patch did an excellent job informing our community of what happened today in our neck-of-the-woods. As a mom with one child in school and another at home with me today, the original call from the school only sent me into panic mode. I logged onto Patch and was immediately relieved to know more details about this bizarre incident. Thank you!!!! Keep up the good work.

Samara and Mike -- Excellent job reporting this as well as election results last night. Patch is a valuable means of communication for our cities. Keep up the great work!

I did the same thing, check the big television stations' web pages and nothing. Then I went to the Patch! All the info I needed! Now always my first stop for local news! Great job Patch! Also, thanks to 885 for their work too!

District 885 and Wright Cty--Thank for keeping our children safe, and parents as informed as possible. Patch, you did a great job elaborating on the "Breaking News" so parents at accross the metro were able to get up the minute details. I check the Patch daily on my phone and am happy to have a valuable resource for relevant STMA news. Thank you, STMA community!

Thanks for the continuous updates. I missed the first robo call and shortly after I received an email with the same info, it was great. I am very thankful to live in a community with such great communication. Thanks bunches to the Patch

Thank you to STMA for a prompt response in keeping our children safe and to Patch.com for keeping residents up to date. We are blessed to live in this community.

Wish the school district would have released as much information as the patch did. I was a panicked parent wondering what was going on. If you can release the info about the robbery why couldn't they have told us that as well? I am glad Wright County and the School District made the decision to keep our kids safe but give us more information than just the school is in safe mode until further notice. All kinds of thoughts and fears run through our heads! Obviously sharing a little more information couldn't have hurt here. Also by getting to all these households by robo call it could keep residents safer too. I might have shut my garage door and locked my front door knowing someone is on foot and they have a gun!

Folks, keep in mind that the district is likely limited on the specifics they can release due to liabilities, the information available, and the quickly changing nature of the events. The district did an excellent job in their capacity as a school district doing what they could alerting parents, and the Patch did an equally excellent job in their capacity as a journalism organiztion doing what they could to report the news.

Thank you Patch for keeping us up to date with info. The schools did what they were supposed to do. But, I was EXTREMELY disappointed in how they handled the confusion with bus times. The message first received said that buses were "on their normal schedule" which we got when my kids should have been home. Then another message came stating that they were going to be 35 - 45 minutes late. My kids got off their bus 20 minutes later than their normal time and I wasn't there because the school misdirected me. They need to figure out how to fix this problem especially when there is an armed bank robber on the loose. No one knows that he wouldn't go into a residential area. Are criminals really that predictable to guarantee the safety of our children? Their process needs to be looked at and evaluated so this confusion with transportation NEVER happens again.

Albertville Resident - I can tell you from being on the scene and being on the phone with the district much of the afternoon (off and on) - the district was at the mercy of the authorities. Until the buses were searched and cleared, they couldn't go. Who knew how long that would take. I have to defend the district here. They played by the FBI and MSHP rules.

my daughter walks home from school and i dont think they should have allowed the kids to walk/bike home from school. they should have made them take the bus or wait until parents could pick them up. my daughter probably wouldnt have walked home had she known what was going on.

Is it time for a local police force? Although Sheriffs Dept does a great job I can't help think about what if we had one. Would their street presence deterred this from happening?

While I am thankful they locked down the schools and took extra precaustions, I agree with Laura, JK, and Mindy about the school district's robo call being HORRIBLE. I understand they probably couldn't say there was bank robbery, but they should have said "There was an incident at an Albertville (or local) business that wasn't a direct threat to students..." The cryptic message makes people jump to conclusions, even though the message seemed to imply that it wasn't something like a kid with a gun on campus. A little more info would have made for less confusion. I feel bad for those who work so far away from the area and felt uncertain about what would happen.

David - Judging by the consternation over the school levy referendum, I'd guess people wouldn't be willing to pay the taxes necessary to start and fund a police force. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but I know the three communities in Wright County that DO NOT contract with the sheriff's department pay considerably more on the police line item in their annual budget. Bob Derus would be a good person to ask for that exact information as he's weighed that out before. It would mean an increase in our General Levy. And if one community did make that move, it would be St. Michael, not Albertville.

I do find it interesting that the major news outlets either didn't cover this story or gave it 15 seconds on the 5, 6, 9 or 10 news. Apparently we don't exist out here.

We think you exist. That's why we're here.

just an fyi, with all the peeps and their smartphones out there, there is an app you can download called scanner radio, it's a police radio. And I was listening to it all and knew about it before the robo call went out! We were at coburns when we saw all the commotion, so when I got home, turned it on to wright county, and heard it all:) Of course I checked the patch later too for updates!!

what is the app called?

I just searched for scanner radio and used the one by Gordon Edward :)