Meryl Schenker / P-I
Seattle police had surrounded a man in his vehicle shortly before 11 a.m. The gold SUV, pictured, which police were chasing, had its windows shattered after police began firing, witnesses said.
Police shoot alleged bank robber in downtown Seattle
P-I STAFF
Seattle police shot a man in the neck who they believe fled the scene of a bank robbery earlier Tuesday morning.
Officers chased a pair of alleged bank robbers into downtown Seattle Tuesday, and had surrounded a man in his vehicle shortly before 11 a.m. after officers had blocked his vehicle off on Spring Street between First and Second avenues.
The gold Jeep Grand Cherokee, which police were chasing, had its windows shattered after police began firing, witnesses said.
Meryl Schenker / P-I
SUV, pictured, which Seattle police were chasing, had its windows shattered after police began firing in downtown Seattle, witnesses said.
The police warned the suspect over a loud speaker that he would be shot. Police began firing after that, witnesses said. A witness on the 12th floor of an office building on Second Avenue, "The police said about 10 times, 'Suspect, get out of the car or you will be shot.' He would not get out."
Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said three Seattle police officers and one King County sheriff's deputy opened fire when the man refused to drop his gun and wounded him in the neck.
One man said he could hear the gunshots from Third Avenue and Madison Street. "It was like a machine gun almost," said Marty Conley, who was in the area at the time.
A construction worker coming out of a white company van, which had two windows blown out by gunfire, was slowly led away from the scene with a bloody gash over his left eye, according to Nicole Jordan, a witness in the 12th-floor office of Second Avenue Partners, at 1000 Second Ave.
Kerlikowske said flying glass had wounded the construction worker.
There are at least two bullet holes on the rear of the vehicle that held the suspected robbers. A single ambulance left the scene, apparently containing one of the suspects.
A black jacket and shirt were lying in the middle of the street along with a stream of blood.
Witnesses downtown said the commotion reminded them of something out of Hollywood.
"I was walking down the street. I've only been here a couple of days,' said Rick Hampson, from England. "I thought they were shooting a movie. When I see this in the movies I thought it was overkill. I thought it was Hollywood, but that's just America."
At a day-care center on the 1000 block of Second Avenue little children were gathered playing games in an interior hallway without windows. The staff gathered them there for their safety.
Around 11 a.m., FBI Special Agent Larry Carr, bank robbery coordinator, was on the scene. Police were still on the sixth floor balcony of an office building on the northwest corner at First and Spring around noon.
At least one man allegedly robbed a West Seattle branch bank in the 2300 block of California Avenue Southwest at 10:10 a.m. Seattle police said the man was armed and wearing a wig and surgical mask.
Kerlikowske called it a "takedown robbery."
The cashier at the Admiral Chevron across the street from the bank saw the whole thing.
"Looking out the window at that moment I saw this guy coming out of the bank holding wearing what looks like a face mask, like the ones that you use when you go into a surgical room -- dark green, covering only the nose and the mouth," said Harold Chacon.
Outside, a car was waiting for him. As Chacon watched, the man jumped in carrying a backpack. Just as the car took off down California Avenue, Chacon saw the bag explode in red ink.
"That's when we wondered, OK. I'm assuming that was a bank robbery."
Chacon wasn't scared. He's worked at the Admiral Chevron 10 years. This isn't the first robbery he's seen out of that Wells Fargo.
"It's kind of normal for this bank," Chacon said. "I remember when that ink was blue."
A Seattle police sergeant saw the fleeing car, and the chase began, Kerlikowske said.
The vehicles sped down the West Seattle Bridge and onto Interstate 5.
On Yesler Way, a man jumped out of the car and told police that man in the car had a gun.
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