Bank Employee Tries to Catch Bandit, Is Slain

An armed robber shot and killed a Security Pacific National Bank employee Friday after the employee and two other men chased the robber and attempted to tackle him, Los Angeles police said.

The victim, 31, was not identified pending notification of relatives. He was pronounced dead at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Bruce Meyer.

The suspect, a man in his mid-20s who was armed with a pistol, allegedly tried to hold up the Security Pacific branch at 6400 Wilshire Blvd. at about 5:20 p.m., Meyer said. The gunman handed a teller a note demanding money, but ran from the bank after employees somehow “became aware that an attempted robbery was under way,” Meyer said.

An unidentified bank employee chased him and was joined by two men who had just made withdrawals from an automatic teller machine outside. They caught up with the suspect two blocks away in the 700 block of McCarthy Vista Street, Meyer said. When one of the men tried to tackle the robber, the gunman fatally wounded the bank employee and fled.

The robber, also suspected in a holdup earlier in the day at another Security Pacific branch at 6120 W. 3rd St., was still at large Friday night.