STOCKTON, Calif. — What began as an armed bank robbery involving three hostages became an hourlong rolling gun battle through two California cities, ending with more than 600 rounds fired by police.
More than a decade later, Stockton Police Officer Pancho Freer is sharing what it was like to join the pursuit as an officer with just two years on the job — and to spend years wondering whether one of his rounds killed a hostage.
During a recent episode of the “Shots Fired” podcast, Freer walked hosts Kyle Shoberg and Mark Redlich through the July 16, 2014, Bank of the West robbery, pursuit and shootout.
Freer emphasized that his account represented only his experience during an incident involving dozens of officers with varying assignments and levels of experience.
“This is just my perspective on it,” he said. “I’m not trying to speak for anybody else.”
From K-9 training to a rolling gun battle
Freer was attending K-9 training when officers learned that three armed men had entered the bank and taken hostages.
The robbers forced three women — bank employees Kelly Huber and Stephanie Koussaya and customer Misty Holt-Singh — into Huber’s Ford Explorer. Huber was ordered to drive.
Freer initially returned to police headquarters, put on an extra uniform and joined another officer. They responded to the bank but were told the scene was under control and instructed to begin handling other calls.
That changed when officers reported taking gunfire during the pursuit. According to a critical incident review by the Policing Institute, one of the suspects fired more than 100 rounds from an AK-47 during the pursuit, disabling 14 police vehicles — including the department’s armored vehicle — and leaving more than 200 rounds inside the getaway SUV when the shootout ended, according to a critical incident review conducted by the National Policing Institute.
“There were multiple guys that came over at multiple time points in the pursuit,” Freer recalled. “You hear, ‘Shots fired,’ or, ‘I’m taking fire,’ and you hear the rounds hitting their car.”
The pursuit traveled approximately 60 miles through Stockton and Lodi, reached speeds exceeding 100 mph and involved more than 30 police vehicles, according to the National Policing Institute.
Freer and the officer driving him joined near the back of what he described as a “sea of patrol cars.”
Despite the gunfire and number of responding units, Freer said the radio traffic remained controlled. He credited the dispatcher and more experienced officers with calmly relaying information even as patrol vehicles were struck.
“You couldn’t tell that they were getting shot at other than hearing the rounds hit their car,” he said. “Nobody’s screaming.”
‘I saw muzzle flash’
As the pursuit returned to Stockton and moved into a residential area, Freer recognized the streets and directed his driver toward an intersection where he believed they would encounter the SUV.
Freer got out of the patrol vehicle as the Explorer approached and turned in front of him. He said he saw the upper body of a gunman in the rear of the SUV, followed by muzzle flashes.
Freer returned fire.
“I had a silhouette — perfect silhouette of the guy above where the tailgate was — and just his top half, chest up,” he said. “That’s what I was shooting at.”
The pursuit continued until the Explorer became disabled near a school. Officers poured out of their vehicles as gunfire again came from the SUV.
An independent review later found that 33 officers fired their weapons at four locations during the incident, discharging more than 600 rounds.
Freer recalled becoming so focused on the threat that he did not hear officers firing from nearby positions. He later learned an officer standing about 10 feet away had fired a shotgun.
“I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “I heard my gun, and that was it.”
Three hostages, three different outcomes
Huber was shot in the leg by one of the robbers and pushed from the moving SUV early in the pursuit. Koussaya later jumped from the Explorer while it was traveling at a high rate of speed, suffering serious injuries.
Holt-Singh remained inside when the SUV stopped.
Police determined that surviving robber Jaime Ramos positioned Holt-Singh between himself and officers, using her as a human shield. She was fatally struck by police gunfire.
Ramos was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of hostage Misty Holt-Singh. Accomplice Pablo Ruvalcaba was sentenced to 25 years to life for first-degree murder. Two other robbery suspects were killed during the shootout.
Freer said officers initially received conflicting information suggesting a child might still be inside the vehicle.
“You start hearing whispers of, ‘Where’s the kid at?’” he recalled. “Then you’re thinking, ‘Did we just kill a kid?’”
The child was not inside, but Holt-Singh’s death weighed heavily on Freer.
He said he spent years wondering whether one of his rounds had struck her. Freer had fired his handgun, and his father later told him that the fatal rounds came from a rifle.
Freer said he would have left policing if he had learned his weapon was responsible.
“I would have turned my badge in,” he said. “I couldn’t live with that being a cop. That’s not who I am, and that’s not what I want to be known as.”
The years after the shooting
Freer said the immediate aftermath included sleepless nights, administrative leave and repeated questions about whether officers had followed policy.
The number of officers involved also created operational challenges for the department. Freer recalled radios being collected from officers at the post-shooting hotel because the department did not have enough equipment for the next patrol shift. Officers also had to double up because numerous patrol vehicles had been damaged or taken out of service.
The legal aftermath continued for approximately five years through depositions and litigation.
During one meeting with attorneys, Freer asked whether he could lose his home because of the lawsuits.
“The guy couldn’t tell me no,” he said. “That scared the hell out of me.”
Koussaya sued the city, department and officers, alleging police tactics contributed to her injuries. An appellate court ultimately upheld judgment in favor of the city and officers, finding the officers’ uses of deadly force during the pursuit were reasonable under the circumstances.
Freer said he cried when he eventually received a letter clearing him.
How many officers are too many?
Shoberg and Redlich also examined the number of officers who joined the pursuit and the difficulty supervisors face when officers feel compelled to help colleagues who are taking fire.
Freer said he did not join because he wanted to participate in a gunfight. He expected the robbers to flee on foot and believed officers would be needed to establish a perimeter and search for multiple armed suspects.
“I wasn’t going to let something happen and me be in a position to help and not help,” he said.
The hosts acknowledged that the desire to protect fellow officers is deeply ingrained in law enforcement, but said supervisors must maintain discipline and consider whether additional self-deployed officers could add confusion or create further danger.
Freer said Stockton later established a patrol rifle team composed of designated officers who receive additional training in shooting and decision-making during high-stress situations.
“There is a silver lining,” Shoberg said. “The department took that horrible situation and tried to make something better as a result of it.”
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