Suspected bank robber runs past TV reporter live on air

Adam Sallet was reporting on a local bank robbery - when the suspect returned to commit the crime for a second time

A TV reporter interrupted a live broadcast about a bank robbery - when the suspected culprit ran straight past him.

Adam Sallet, from Minnesota's KIMT3 News, was reporting from outside the Sterling State Bank in Rochester when a bank employee sprinted towards him while pointing behind the camera.

Apparently reacting to what the bank worker informs him, Mr Sallet tells viewers: “Oh, that’s the robber.

“This is live TV folks, that’s the robber just went by according to the bank employee.

Mr Sallet is alerted by a bank employee (KIMT3)

“I gotta go and call 911. I’ll talk to you later”.

He then ducks out of sight and the shot cuts back to the news anchor, who assures the audience the incident had "not been set up”.

Speaking to Fox News after the incident, Mr Sallet explained he was a “one-man band” and did not have a cameraman to turn and record the man running away.

He said he was back on air a few minutes later to report on the situation.

Rochester police said they arrested the 36-year-old suspect at gunpoint less than 45 minutes after the incident in the nearby city of Coates, the Post-Bulletin reports.

Police Captain John Sherwin said he had given bank staff a note demanding money and said he was armed.

He believes the man was attempting to rob the same bank again when he ran past the reporter.