Bank robber taken down near my work

[Balog]

This took place about 3 blocks from my building.

Police chase ends in gunfire and arrests

By Jennifer Sullivan and Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporters

Shots were fired and a suspect wounded following a bank robbery and chase that wound from West Seattle to downtown shortly before 10 a.m.

Two men were arrested, including the wounded suspect.

Witnesses reported that one man, possibly the getaway driver, was arrested in an SUV near First and Spring streets. The man was wounded by gunfire, although it was not immediately clear who fired the gunshots.

The man is being transported to Harborview Medical Center with a gunshot wound.

"I don't know who fired the shots; if they came from us or the suspects," said Mark Jamieson, police spokesman.

A second man, identified as the robber, was arrested earlier at First Avenue and Spring Street. Police said a third man may have jumped out of the vehicle and is still at large.

The robbery occurred at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in the 2300 block of California Avenue Southwest in West Seattle. Police said the man entered the bank in a dress, wig and surgical mask.

After the robbery officers chased the men over the Alaskan Way Viaduct to downtown Seattle, according to police Lt. Norm James. Several streets near First and Spring streets are closed while police investigate.

FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs said a man dressed in a wig and black dress and carrying a handgun burst into the Wells Fargo Bank branch in West Seattle. The man brandished the firearm, ordered customers to the floor and jumped over the counter, taking cash. He fled to a waiting SUV, she said.

"Police were responding and a chase started right there," she said. It wound over the West Seattle Bridge, onto Capitol Hill and back into downtown Seattle, she said.

Agents believe the robber jumped out of the car near First Avenue and Yesler, and was taken into custody following a foot chase.

The driver of the SUV continued to flee, but was intercepted near First Avenue and Spring Street. Burroughs said shots were fired by officers, although she was not sure whether they were FBI agents or Seattle police.

The bank was closed immediately after the robbery and is now cordoned off with police tape.

Seattle Times staff reporter Leslie Jones contributed to this report.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Police said the man entered the bank in a dress, wig and surgical mask.

If the F., the B., and the I. don't nail him for bank robbery, the fashion police surely will send him away for ten years without parole.

[Perd Hapley]

Just another example of anti-transvestite violence in this country. 

[Dntsycnt]

Strangely enough I just finished watching Dog Day Afternoon for the first time, and it's about a bank robber who married a transvestite. 

[Manedwolf]

It's far funnier when they have the dyepack explode in their pants.

[Polishrifleman]

Petty interesting story to say the lease.  Guy robbed a bank about 10 miles away and decided to escape to downtown.

[Creeping Incrementalism]

There was an armed robbery near where I work in downtown Oakland a few years ago.  Dude ran into the Bart station (electric commuter train) and dissappeared down an underground tunnel.  The cops wouldn't give chase until the trains were shut down and the electricity shut off, so the dude escaped.

[freakazoid]

I've don't understand why they do armed bank robberies. All they have to do is walk in with a piece of paper saying give me your money and walk out. A gun only draws unnecessary attention. A long time ago I heard on the radio about someone robbing a bank with a pitch fork.