US bank robbery suspect returns during live TV report

A suspected bank robber in the US returned to the scene of the crime to try again just as an Iowa television station was conducting a live report.

KIMT-TV reporter Adam Sallet was reporting on the first heist at Sterling State Bank in Rochester, Minnesota, when a bank employee ran out and gesticulated at the suspect.

The TV journalist was forced to cut short his on-air report.

"I have to go," he announced. "I have to call [emergency services on] 911."

Minnesota police said the 36-year-old suspect - not captured on film during Sallet's report - was later pulled over south of Minneapolis and arrested.

He is suspected of robbing the bank on consecutive days. In both, the suspect is reported to have presented a note and escaped with money.

Bank robberies are becoming much less commonplace in the US, officials say, because the rise of electronic payments is creating a more cashless society.

Since 2003, bank robberies are estimated to have have fallen by 47%.