LANSING | As police and fire officials were wrapping up a crime scene from a bank robbery that originated in Munster, officers ran to their squad cars and squealed their tires -- a man had just robbed a second bank less than a quarter of a mile away.

Thomas Cunningham, 44, who was known to be staying at a Lansing residence in the 7800 block of Chicago Avenue, was arrested in a wooded area not far from that address in connection with the robbery of the First Savings Bank of Hegewisch just before 1 p.m., Lansing Police Chief Daniel McDevitt said.

Charges are pending, the police chief said.

"We have reports he had been in a business downtown," McDevitt said, adding Cunningham lives close to the bank. "He must of saw this as a good opportunity. It was obviously a faulty plan, but he tried to take advantage."

A man entered the bank at 18207 Burnham Ave., and handed a teller a note demanding money and implying he had a weapon. No one was injured.

Police received the call about 12:26 p.m., and an officer saw a man who matched a witness description on a bicycle not far from the bank, McDevitt said.

The offender was followed until he spotted police, ran through a Chicago Avenue residence and out the back door before being apprehended near a wooded area north of 178th Street and Chicago Avenue, the police chief said.

Cunningham is known to Lansing police, McDevitt said, but declined to elaborate.

Thornton Fractional South High School and Coolidge Elementary School in Lansing were placed on lockdown for a short time before police went to the schools and gave the all-clear.