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.