Maryland police kill armed bank robber with possible bomb
Silver Springs MD Jan 20 2019
Police fatally shot a man on Wednesday in downtown Silver Spring after he entered a bank just before 11 a.m., said he had a bomb, displayed a gun and demanded $20,000 in cash, according to police in Montgomery County.
The shooting occurred moments after the suspect left the BB&T branch and headed toward Ramsey Avenue and the nearby Silver Spring Metro station.
He wore a backpack with suspicious-looking wiring attached, officials said. Bomb technicians later determined the apparatus was not an explosive device but was made to resemble one, said Sgt. Rebecca Innocenti, a Montgomery police spokeswoman.
Neither the identity of the man nor the officer who shot him had been released as of early Wednesday evening. The officer has been with the department for 2½ years, officials said, and was placed on paid, administrative leave per the department’s protocol.
“There was a confrontation. The suspect was then shot,” Assistant Police Chief Marcus Jones said at the scene.
The suspect was wearing his backpack at the time he was shot. It was not clear whether he had pointed a gun at the officer.
The suspect died at a hospital, Jones said.
The incident began, Jones said, when the suspect “walked into the bank manager’s office and stated that he had a bomb in his backpack. He also lifted up his coat and displayed a handgun” and demanded the cash.
The manager walked to a line of tellers. A panic-button-type alarm was pushed.
Jones said at least one bank employee later said sirens could be heard as the man was waiting for the money. If so, the sound may have compelled him to flee, Jones said.
A 911 operator was told that the suspect had a bomb and showed a gun, officials said.
The suspect did not get any money, Jones said.
