Customer Shoots Suspect In Tacoma Bank
TACOMA - A man who wielded a gun and attempted to rob a credit union yesterday was shot by a customer. It was the second incident at the business in the same day.
Police said the suspect in the robbery attempt donned a stocking cap and mask, walked into the Westop Credit Union at 2806 E. Portland Ave. about 5:30 p.m., held a gun to a teller and demanded money.
As the incident was taking place, a man who had been waiting in a car for his wife to complete a transaction walked into the credit union and fired one shot, hitting the suspect in the stomach.
The suspect, a 31-year-old Tacoma resident, was in critical condition last night at St. Joseph Medical Center. No one else was injured in the robbery.
Earlier in the day, police took into custody two men suspected of robbing the same credit union just after 11 a.m.
In the robbery, a gun was used by a man who fled with an undisclosed amount of cash to a car waiting nearby. Police stopped the vehicle and arrested two men after reportedly finding the stolen cash inside the car.
The suspects, ages 26 and 27, were booked on first-degree robbery charges.
One of the men had recently been released from Monroe state prison for an armed-robbery conviction, police said.
Police are investigating whether the pair are tied to a string of recent robberies in King and Pierce counties.
Police are also looking for a man who robbed the First Interstate Bank, 3067 Sixth Ave., at 12:49 p.m. yesterday.
The man in that robbery implied that he had a gun and took an undisclosed amount of cash. He was described as 6 feet tall and he fled in a four-door gray sedan.