Bank robbery suspects arrested after standoff

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

Three suspects in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas bank were arrested at a North Las Vegas home after a police stand-off Thursday afternoon.

The FBI, Metro Police and North Las Vegas Police and its SWAT team participated in the capture of the trio that allegedly robbed a Bank of America branch inside a Vons market in the 4800 block of West Lone Mountain Road near Decatur Boulevard, FBI spokesman Todd Palmer said.

Throughout the robbery, chase and capture, there were no injuries to police or by-standers, Palmer said.

The FBI and police were called to the bank about 11 a.m. Police evacuated the Vons market and began a search for suspects and weapons inside the store, police said.

A pest exterminator tried to use his company truck to block the getaway car in the parking lot, but the suspects hit the driver's side of the man's truck as they were fleeing and kept on going, police said. The truck driver was not injured.

The search for the suspects ended at a house in the 700 block of Bent Grass Avenue, near Gowan Road and Revere Street in North Las Vegas, police said.

After failed attempts by police officers to convince the suspects to surrender, North Las Vegas Police called in its SWAT team, North Las Vegas Police Department spokesman Tim Bedwell said.

Members of the SWAT team spent about 45 minutes trying to talk to the suspects, but no one responded from inside the home.

Two of the men were hiding in the attic of the home and a third was inside the house, police said.

SWAT officers fired a tear gas canister into the house, which convinced one of the men to surrender.

A second gas canister brought a man down from the attic, Bedwell said, but he became combative when officers tried to arrest him so they fired a Taser at him and that allowed them to take him into custody, police said.

A third suspect was discovered hiding in the house and arrested by FBI agents.

Booked into the Las Vegas jail at Stewart Avenue and Mojave Road were Steven Lloyd Lee, Felix Holman, Jr., and Angelo Adam. Their ages and charges were not available late Thursday.

The FBI refused to reveal the amount of money stolen in the robbery.

The multi-agency response is typical in a bank robbery, Palmer said. The FBI and Metro Police are continuing to investigate the robbery.