Suspect in bank robberies shot by Seattle police officer

A man suspected in a Shoreline bank robbery was shot by Seattle police Wednesday after he slammed into a patrol car, while driving a stolen pickup. He struck two other vehicles as well.

According to Nick Metz, assistant chief with the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the department got a bulletin about a robbery at a Bank of America in the 1100 block of North 205th Street in Shoreline shortly after 4 p.m.

Bank employees reported that the robber fled in a silver Dodge Ram pickup, which police later determined had been stolen in Seattle, said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart.

A Seattle officer spotted the vehicle a short time later near Third Avenue Northwest and Holman Road and began to follow it heading northeast on Holman Road, Metz said.

When the truck got stuck in traffic near Greenwood Avenue North, Holman Road and North 105th Street, Metz said, officers moved to box it in with police cars.

According to Metz, when the driver slammed into a police car, an officer with the SPD-FBI Bank Robbery Task Force started firing.

The truck then slammed into the driver's side of a red Honda station wagon carrying a man and his two young children. At some point, the truck also struck a third vehicle, a silver Honda, police said.

Four bullet holes were visible in the driver's-side window of the pickup. The suspect was wounded in the arm, Metz said.

The driver of the red Honda and the two children, estimated to be 5 to 8 years old, were taken to Harborview Medical Center with minor injuries, Metz said.

The driver of the pickup, who had non-life-threatening injuries, also was taken to Harborview, Metz said.

The officer who shot the driver was uninjured. Metz described him as a veteran officer but didn't name him.

Police suspect the pickup driver in a string of robberies, Metz said.

"Our officers don't typically have the luxury to decide when or where they're going to place someone into custody, and they can't dictate the actions that person is going to take, so they have to respond to those actions." Metz said.

A nursing supervisor at Harborview said the driver of the red Honda, the two children and the suspect were all in satisfactory condition on Wednesday night.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com