Police Links Stockton Bank Robber To Previous Heists
STOCKTON (CBS SF) -- Detectives believe that one of the men killed in Wednesday's bank robbery, hostage situation and deadly shootout carried out a robbery at the same Bank of the West branch earlier in the year, according to CBS Sacramento.
"We're still trying to figure out exactly why they targeted this branch two times this year," said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.
Police say the January bank robbery surveillance photo of a man holding a gun and wearing a hoodie and sunglasses is the same person as the Facebook photo of suspect Alex Martinez, one of last week's bank robbers who took three hostages and died in a shootout with police.
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Stockton Police Chief Remarks On Deadly Bank Robbery, Shootout
In each robbery, the suspects were dropped off and used an employee vehicle as a getaway car.
Investigators are using the link to build their case in the deadly hostage ordeal.
"Hopefully it's going to let us branch off another investigation so that we could see indeed if more people were involved," Silva said.
Stockton police are already looking for a fourth suspect who dropped off the armed suspects at the bank. The car was found abandoned in a Stockton neighborhood.
"We're working side-by-side with the district attorney's office," Silva said. "We would definitely look at what other charges would be filed at that point."
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