MARIETTA, Ga. -- A bank robbery suspect, who was the subject of a search that shut down a major interstate in the Atlanta area, has turned himself in to authorities.

Thomas Richard Lagano, 23, surrendered to Jasper County authorities Saturday.

Lagano is accused of robbing a bank in Cobb County last Thursday.

During the robbery, a bank teller slipped a tracking device into the bag. Using the device's transmission, police concluded the robber was in a vehicle headed south on Interstate 75.

At the height of the afternoon rush hour, authorities ordered the southbound lanes of I-75 closed. They also blocked exits from the freeway. Officers on foot conducted a car-to-car search but in the end had no suspect, thousands of angry commuters and a police chief who wondered why his commanders had resorted to such a tactic at that time of day.

"We took a big hit," Cobb County police spokesman Dana Pierce said.

But while technology failed in catching the suspect, more traditional methods were successful.

"I think he realized the heat was on," Pierce said of Lagano. "We had been at several places he had been to recently."

Pierce said a fingerprint left at the bank allowed detectives to identify Lagano as a suspect. And as authorities tracked him down, Pierce said Lagano's grandparents persuaded him to turn himself in.

He has been brought to the Cobb County jail on $25,000 bond. Detectives also hope he will help them understand how he eluded police despite carrying a tracking device, Pierce said. The device quit transmitting during the search, he said.

"He either defeated it, or it failed," Pierce said.

As for the decision to shut down the interstate, Pierce said Cobb County Police Chief George Hatfield talked to commanders Friday to determine whether they made the right call.

"Given the same set of circumstances, I don't think we would do the same thing again," Pierce said.