Officers are still searching for a man who fired two shots while robbing an Olmsted Village bank Wednesday. A $5,000 reward has been posted.

Moore County sheriff's deputies and Pinehurst police used dogs and roadblocks to try and nab the robber, who walked into Crescent State Bank at about 11:33 a.m. carrying a revolver and a white sack. He aimed the gun away from the employees and fired the shots, according to Moore County Chief Deputy Neil Godfrey.

The Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation and has released several images of the man, taken from the bank's surveillance videos. They show a black man wearing dark sunglasses. Deputies believe he is between 18 and 25 years old. He wore a dark-blue hooded jacket, a throwback Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap, a white T-shirt that hung out from below the jacket, white gloves, dark pants and black shoes with white soles.

After the robbery, the suspect left on foot and escaped. Pinehurst police officers surrounded the bank as shaken employees waited outside while the Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation team worked inside.

Outside, the Sheriff's Office K-9 unit tried in vain to pick up the robber's scent. The N.C. Bankers Association is offering the reward.

The bank is in Taylortown. At the time of the robbery, police band radio traffic indicated that no Taylortown police officers could be located. Chief Damon Williams was training at the North Carolina Justice Academy in Salemburg.

Sheriff Lane Carter said that his office picks up the slack when local departments need help.

"None of these small towns have the resources for 24/7 law enforcement -- Vass doesn't, Cameron doesn't, and neither does Taylortown or Pinebluff," Carter said. "People in those towns pay county taxes, too. We provide what they need, because we cover the whole county. Only four towns -- Southern Pines, Pinehurst, Aberdeen and Carthage -- have departments big enough for full-time coverage."

Calls to the Taylortown Police Department are generally answered by a system that takes messages, but first advises calling 911 in emergencies or reaching a Sheriff's Office dispatcher to talk directly to a town police officer.

Police need to take advantage of training whenever they can get it, Carter said, adding that about half his detectives were in training on Thursday.

"Chief Williams was back here from training and being debriefed by 4 (p.m.) yesterday (Wednesday)," he said.

Deputies are asking that anyone with information contact the Moore County Sheriff's Office at 947-2931.

Contact Matthew Moriarty at 693-2479 or by e-mail at moriarty@thepilot.com. Staff Writer John Chappell contributed to this report.