Melissa Harris
The Baltimore Sun
Copyright 2006 The Baltimore Sun Company
A man believed to be a 25-year-old Baltimore-area resident committed suicide yesterday after state police and Charles County sheriff’s deputies cornered him in Upper Marlboro following a bank robbery in Waldorf, authorities said.
Kristen Timko, a spokeswoman for the Charles County sheriff, said three men entered a Wachovia bank about 9:30 a.m. armed with a handgun and shotgun. Two jumped the counter and stole an undetermined amount of cash, while the third ordered the 14 customers and staff to get on the floor.
The men fled in a 1996 Mercury and were spotted traveling north on Route 301, Timko said. Deputies chased the car into Prince George’s County, where the Mercury clipped a cargo van, flipped several times and came to rest in the median.
Two of the men fled on foot and were later apprehended. The third remained in the Mercury and raised what appeared to be a shotgun, police said. A trooper fired twice and ducked behind his patrol car, said Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman.
The trooper then heard one shot fired, Shipley said. Police found a pistol in the suspect’s hand and a sawed-off shotgun on the seat. A preliminary investigation showed the man shot himself in the head, Shipley said.
June 19, 2006