Stockton Police Release Statement After Armed Bank Robbery Leaves Three Dead

Today our community and surrounding communities experienced a very unusual incident where 3 armed men robbed a bank, took hostages, did harm to those hostages, attempted to kill numerous police officers, and basically put our entire community at huge risk. Because of the professional and poised law enforcement from multiple agencies involved in this, no officers and the rest of the community were not harmed when they certainly and easily could have been.

The Police Department wants to first extend our condolences for the tragic loss of a bank customer that died today. The entire Department is very saddened by it, and the actions of the dangerous criminals today was beyond reckless and chaotic. No words can describe it. We want to also thank the multiple law enforcement agencies involved in today’s incident and then also the on-going investigation into this matter.

We are providing a synopsis of events but this is an active and likely lengthy investigation so many details cannot be released yet either because the details are yet unknown or because the case is ongoing.

Here is a chronology of events:

Today, at the Bank of the West in the 7800 block of Thornton Road, 3 armed Latino suspects entered the bank; a security officer was able to call it in to police but he was then tied up by the assailants.

The Police Department received the call at 2:11 PM, at 2:12pm, a Stockton Police Officer arrived on-scene. The Officer confirmed there was a bank robbery in progress and saw that the suspects were taking hostages at gunpoint. Within minutes additional police resources were requested including hostage negotiators.

At 2:16 PM, the assailants exited the bank with three adult female hostages, 2 bank employees and 1 bank customer. They took the bank employee’s Sports Utility Vehicle, forced the hostages in that same vehicle, and they then fled the bank parking lot. Within a couple blocks, the suspects shot one of the female hostages, a bank employee, and either threw her from the vehicle or she jumped from the vehicle. An officer stopped and rendered her aid. She is expected to survive. Other officers continued to pursue the bank robbers.

What occurred next was very dangerous and unthinkable. An approximate one hour, very dangerous, pursuit took place that required additional agencies such as the California Highway Patrol (ground units and air support). The pursuit stretched from Stockton, to Lodi and Acampo, and back to and through the City of Stockton. During the entire pursuit, police officers were constantly fired upon by the assailants with high powered assault rifles. The suspects had mass amounts of ammunition, even with some firearm magazines taped or strapped to their bodies. The gunfire on our officers was relentless. The officers continued the dangerous chase even under fire; their concerns were for the hostages but also for the community at large. The gunfire from the assailants was so reckless that multiple uninvolved residences and vehicles were struck by gunfire on busy city streets and on the highway. During the car pursuit, at least 14 law enforcement vehicles were struck by bullets. The assailants also attempted to ambush officers.
In fact in one incident, at 2:48 PM, the suspects briefly lost the officers and then stopped off of the roadway off-ramp and turned and had their weapons aimed at the officers that were to soon make the turn looking for them. A police officer was able to see this from another vantage point and had a line of sight on the primary gunman leaning over the back trunk ready to fire upon officers. Our police officer fired upon the assailant and the suspect vehicle then began the pursuit again. That officer likely thwarted a deadly ambush. The pursuit then continued on for some time.

At 3:16 PM, about an hour into the deadly chase, while the suspect vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed – probably over 50 mph, a second hostage (another bank employee) was either thrown from, or jumped from the vehicle. Officers rendered her aid as well and she too is expected to survive at this time.

Just about 2 minutes later, the suspect vehicle became disabled in the area of Thornton Road and Otto in North Stockton. At that point the assailants yet again opened fire and there was a gunfire exchange. It also preliminary appears that one of the gunmen used the 3rd and final hostage (the bank customer from earlier) as a shield. By that point the incident ceased and it was determined that all four people within the vehicle had been shot. 2 of the suspects died of their wounds, 1 suspect was injured, and the female hostage was determined deceased. It was not clear and will not be for some time when the hostage was shot or by whom. What is clear is that these gunmen were trying to kill people with their firearms and put our entire community at risk for a very long time.

We are continuing to process multiple scenes and to work with our allied agencies. We are also looking into their possible connection to multiple other such robberies. The FBI is involved due to the federal crimes involved specifically, the bank robbery.

This has also become a county-wide protocol investigation.

We are very proud of the men and women of the Stockton Police Department and our allied agencies who remained poised, calm, and professional during this dangerous incident.

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/stocktonpolicedepartment?fref=nf