Cpl. Shawn Morgan of the Olds RCMP said no bank staff were injured during the Jan. 24 robbery and no verbal threats were made during the crime.
He added the suspect had left the bank on foot heading west carrying a bag containing the stolen cash.
Police from Olds, Sundre and Didsbury scoured the community for several hours following the robbery and a police canine unit from Red Deer was involved in the search for the suspect.
Morgan said the suspect at one point changed his clothes and removed his disguise near a building west of the bank as he fled and police looked over that area for evidence.
Police announced in a media release issued just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 25 that they had caught a suspect.
The man was putting on gloves and was facing away from Sulym so he could not tell if he was wearing a mask at that point.
The man entered the bank at about 5:20 p.m. and then reemerged in "less than a minute" and removed his mask while fleeing across the street toward an alley between Nutter's Bulk and Natural Food and Sawatzky's Auto Repair just south of 48 Street.
Sulym and Kripak started to follow the man and caught the attention of Erik Olsen who was talking with the owners of Sawatzky's.
While Sulym and Kripak walked down the alley on foot, Olsen, who was on his bicycle, headed west on 49 Street.
Olsen said he saw the suspect walking west before he ducked into a space between two four-plexes on 48 Street and changed his clothes.
The trio of witnesses waited for the suspect and when he came back out into the open, he spoke to the threesome.
"We were looking right at him and he said 'What?' And I said nothing. And then he kept walking but we got a good look at him," Olsen said.
The man continued west towards an apartment complex at the corner of 51 Avenue and 48 Street and then went down an alley behind the apartments.
Kripak said although he and Sulym had initially chased the suspect, he decided to stop and call 911.
He also returned to the bank to see if bank staff had called police and staff members told him the suspect was armed.
"When I went there they told me that I should warn my friend not to chase the guy because he had a gun," he said.
Olsen continued to try to track the suspect and eventually ended up at the Olds Legion off of Highway 27 where he saw a parked taxi.
He said he warned the taxi's driver about the suspect in case he called a cab to escape.
Sulym said the suspect seemed "drunk" or having difficulty walking as he was fleeing the bank and Olsen added the man had slipped on ice while crossing the road.
"And then he got up and he looked right back at us and he said 'Ice.' And then he walked across the street pretty nonchalantly," Olsen said.
Jackson is scheduled to appear in Didsbury court on Jan. 27 for a bail hearing.
