Police: Suspect shoots himself

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2002 | 10 a.m.

A suspected bank robber fleeing from pursuing Metro Police crashed his getaway car into a bus stop Tuesday and then apparently shot himself.

A man went into the Nevada State Bank branch in the 8200 block of West Sahara Avenue near Durango Drive Tuesday about 9:05 a.m. and handed a teller a note demanding cash. The robber never showed a gun, but said he had one, Metro Police said.

The robber fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash. A few minutes later Metro patrol officers spotted the getaway car on Oakey Boulevard near Tenaya Way. The officers followed the car as the driver passed Valley View Boulevard on Oakey Boulevard a few minutes after the robbery.

At 9:17 a.m. police reported the driver crashed into a bus stop on Oakey Boulevard. There was no one sitting at the bus stop.

"They weren't quite sure (if he had a gun) when they went up to the car," said Lt. John Alamshaw of Metro's robbery unit. "Then they saw the gun in his lap and that he had been shot."

No officers had fired their guns, police said.

The suspected robber, whose name was not released this morning, was taken to University Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 9:48 a.m. Tuesday.

The robber may have been responsible for more bank heists than just the one Tuesday, said Special Agent Gayle Jacobs, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Las Vegas office.