MB Police, FBI Confirm Bank Robber Shot & Killed
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Miami Beach Police and FBI SWAT shot and killed the man they believe robbed a bank on Thursday.
Authorities spent all afternoon at his apartment building trying to get him to surrender, even using several rounds of tear gas to smoke him out.
They tried for seven hours to negotiate with the man who was seen robbing a Regions bank on busy 41st St. in Miami Beach.
Police said witnesses led them to an apartment where the man lived, just a block from the bank.
Sure enough, he was inside unwilling to surrender.
Rounds of tear gas popped loudly as they tried to smoke out the guy three times.
A fourth and final round of pops came at around 8 p.m. – the fatal gunshots.
"When I saw all that I said, 'well, some little thing.' But when the time start passing and you see the big shooting, like the guns, you know something is seriously going on," said Angela Arana.
All the activity surprised and scared Miami Beach visitors like Arana who is staying in the building across the street from the standoff.
"We were kept into the apartment like four or five hours. Until the police helped us to go out to get some food," said Arana.
"Sometimes as a kid, especially coming out of school, you just wanna take a break and see what's going on. And as long as you're staying outside the tape it's all safe. Feel pretty safe with all the police here," said Zev Zoldan, who watched the standoff unfold.
Earlier in the day the Miami-Dade Police Bomb Squad was also called out because of a suspicious package left behind, too.
It turned out to be nothing as they safely blew it up. However, authorities said they believe the robber may have planted it as a distraction.
For now authorities are not releasing any more information about the man or how things went down in that apartment.
