By Leon Fooksman
The Sun-Sentinel
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Three Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies were justified in shooting two brothers accused of robbing a bank west of Lake Worth in April, State Attorney Barry Krischer determined this week.
Joshua Beasley, 25, of Lauderhill, was killed during a fight with Sgt. James Hightower for control of the sergeant’s gun as Beasley was cornered during a getaway from the Washington Mutual Bank branch in the 9800 block of Lake Worth Road, west of Lake Worth, according to a memo Krischer wrote to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw on Wednesday. Detective Donald Combs and Deputy Michael Tognacci shot Beasley in the chest, neck, abdomen and arm after Hightower yelled, “Gun, he has my gun,” the report said.
About the same time, his brother Brandon Beasley was shot in his neck and biceps after reaching into a duffel bag that had an assault rifle, the report said. Cpl. William Kirkpatrick Jr. fired the moment he saw Brandon Beasley running and making “a motion like he was right about to slow down and turn around toward me,” the report said.
The brothers, dressed in black, stormed the bank about 10:15 a.m. April 27 and put $104,629 in a dark bag, according to FBI documents. One of them approached the teller looking like a “ninja,” pointed an assault rifle and demanded to be let into the vault. He put $104,629 in a dark bag while his brother stayed in the lobby of the bank, assault rifle in tow. After “roughing up” customers and threatening to kill everyone, the brothers forced customers and employees into the vault, Krischer said in his report.
The brothers then escaped in a Dodge Ram pickup, quickly abandoning it for a four-door Hyundai Elantra, according to the documents. They crashed into a fire hydrant on Jog Road just south of Le Chalet Boulevard. The deputies caught up with them and shot them moments later.
Joshua Beasley died at the scene, and Brandon Beasley was taken to a hospital. He later was charged with conspiracy to commit an armed robbery and using or brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a bank robbery.
The FBI said the brothers were two of at least three men known as the Assault Gun Bandits, who had robbed 10 banks in Palm Beach and Broward counties since December 2004.
Copyright 2008 The Sun-Sentinel