Thomas Kendricks III, 23, is still at large two days after allegedly carjacking a woman in Mankato using a gun and leading police to surround a home at the 1100 block of Eighth Street Northwest in Austin.

Police Chief Brian Krueger said Kendricks has shaved his head and beard, and could still be in the area.

Mankato police searched a North Broad Street home in Mankato at about 4 a.m. Wednesday where Kendricks is believed to live. He was not found during the search, a Mankato Department of Public Safety report said. A renter at the Austin home surrounded by police said Kendricks stayed there, as well.

Kendricks and another man allegedly carjacked a woman using a gun at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to police repairs.

Austin police were notified of the carjacking at about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, according to Krueger. Police found the car at a home at the 1100 block of Eighth Street Northwest at about 9:30 a.m. and immediately surrounded the home.

Nearby residents were evacuated by about 10:10 a.m.

Four people were evacuated from the rental home Tuesday morning. Police believed the two men were still inside with a woman and a 9-year-old child.

After using what appeared to be a flash bang grenade, the 9-year-old left the home at about 2:25 p.m., with a 15-year-old female and a 17-year-old male following within minutes. The 17-year-old male is believed to be Kendricks’s accomplice in the carjacking.

Austin police spent several hours after that using an Albert Lea Police Department robot to search the home for Kendricks, before entering the home at about 5 p.m. to look for him.

“We didn’t want to send our officers into a potential gun battle,” Krueger said.

Though police recovered the gun in the home’s basement, Kendricks was nowhere to be found. Police believe Kendricks likely left before Austin police arrived at the home.

Kendricks was released from prison in June after serving three years for participating in a bank drop robbery in Mankato. He and a restaurant employee robbed the employee’s manager while he was making an after-hours bank drop. The men were both arrested Feb. 8, 2010, after they robbed a cab driver who picked them up in the 200 block of North Fifth Street in Mankato.

Krueger said police haven’t yet received tips regarding Kendricks’s whereabouts. He urges anyone with information on Kendricks to contact police by calling 911 or 507-437-9400.

—MCT Information Services contributed to this report