Cop not welcome at Colerain Key Bank after shootout with robbers. Or is he?

Update, Friday Sept. 29: A $10,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to the arrest of 21-year-old Malcolm Lorenzo Jones. 

Previousreporting: An off-duty police officer who walked into a Colerain Township bank during a robbery and engaged in a gun battle with the suspects acted properly and even heroically, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Wednesday.

Nonetheless, Mount St. Joseph University Officer Carl Rauschenberger told prosecutors he is not welcome back at the bank.

"This morning, I spoke with the police officer and he told me that Key Bank called him and told him that they no longer wanted his business because he had traumatized the bank customers and employees," Deters said in a news release. "If I were running Key Bank, I would have given this officer a medal and free checking."

However, Key Bank spokeswoman Kimberly Kowalski said Rauschenberger is welcome back as a customer and never was asked to cease business with the bank.

"There appears to have been a misunderstanding, and we apologize for any confusion," Kowalski said in an email to The Enquirer. "To be clear, at no time did we ask this client to end his relationship with KeyBank and we will contact him to discuss his concerns." 

But Deters released a document containing Rauschenberger's statement about the incident later Wednesday, which said, "Tuesday evening (May 23) I received a call from Jerry Alford, head of Key Bank security. He informed me that the patrons and employees of the bank were very traumatized by the events of the holdup and exchange of gunfire and would I refrain from doing business at that bank."

Reached later Wednesday Kowalski said, "We have nothing further to add. We are reaching out to our client to discuss the matter further."

Rauschenberger "acted heroically and risked his own life to ensure that no one else got hurt," Deters said, after closing the investigation of the officer's involvement. The officer walked in on Malcolm Jones, 20, and Nelson Jones, 25, robbing the Key Bank location at 2515 Springdale Road on May 22 and exchanged gunfire with the brothers.

According to court documents, Malcolm Jones acted as though he was complying with Rauschenberger before leaping behind the bank counter. Malcolm and Nelson Jones both fled the scene.

Nelson Jones was arrested on June 26 after DNA and fingerprints at the scene and a subsequent investigation led the FBI to identify the pair as the suspects. Malcolm Jones remains at large.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that Malcolm Jones was wounded during the attempted robbery. Somehow, no one else was hit during the exchange of fire.

"Who knows what these armed suspects might have done and how many lives the police officer may have saved?" Deters said.

Video of the incident was released to the public Wednesday reflecting the FBI investigator's accounts of the exchange of bullets.

Deters also announced his office would be donating $2,500 to Crime Stoppers for information leading to the arrest of Malcolm Jones.

"If Jones is arrested prior to Oct. 1 pursuant to a Crime Stoppers tip, my office will offer an additional $5,000 reward," Deters said.

Malcolm and Nelson Jones are charged with armed bank robbery, use of a firearm during a crime of violence and conspiracy to use a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. All are federal charges.

Editor's note: The spelling of Carl Rauschenberger's name has been updated.