Oak Forest Schools on Lockdown as Search Continues for Escaped Bank Robbers

Several Oak Forest schools are on lockdown Tuesday morning, as authorities search for .  

Tinley Park High School is on total lockdown—all doors, windows, and classroom doors are locked. Forest Ridge District 142 and Arbor Park District 145 buildings are on soft lockdown. The facilities are secured and children will be kept indoors, according to administrators. St. Damian doors are kept locked at all times, but students will be kept indoors for recess. 

Jose Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38, are both convicted bank robbers, and should be considered armed and dangerous, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The men escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop some time between 5 a.m. and 8:45 a.m., according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.  Authorities believe the men used tied-together rope or bed sheets to climb down the building, according to ABC News.

The men were last seen in Tinley Park, though the FBI did not specify their exact location.

Banks is described as 5 feet 8 inches, 160 pounds and black. Conley is described as 6 feet, 185 pounds and white. The men were originally wearing orange jumpsuits, but may now be wearing white shirts, sweat pants and white gym shoes.

At least one helicopter searching for the two was seen near Tinley Park High School and the former Panduit facility. Community Consolidated School District 146 schools and the administration center are in a soft lock down until further notice.

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