Timeline Of The Stockton Bank Robbery And Chase
STOCKTON (AP) - At 2:11 p.m. on Wednesday, police in the California city of Stockton received a report of a bank robbery in progress, police said. What follows is a summary by police of the subsequent hour-long chase and furious gunbattle that ended in the deaths of two suspects and a hostage.
- Police arrived on the scene and saw one suspect heading out of the bank with a hostage and then going back in. The three heavily armed suspects then exited the bank with two employees and a customer. The suspects used the three women as shields then got into one of the hostage's vehicles, a Ford Explorer SUV, and drove away. Police pursued.
- Within moments, one of the employees was shot and either jumped out of the SUV or was thrown. The pursuit continued on highways and surface streets with the suspects shooting at pursuing officers, mostly with an AK-47-style assault rifle. No officers were wounded, though the bullets came within inches of them and struck homes and cars. Officers returned fire. Fourteen police vehicles were struck by bullets, and some were disabled.
- At 3:15 p.m., a second bank employee either jumped or was thrown from the SUV. The chase and gunbattle continued.
- About 15 minutes later, police shot out the SUV's tires before a final gunbattle. The suspects continued firing at officers, who returned fire until the gunfire from the suspects stopped. When it was over, the last hostage, Misty Holt-Singh, was found dead in the SUV along with one of the gunmen. Police do not know when she was killed or whether she died from police gunfire or was killed by the suspects. A second gunmen died later at a hospital.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
