Bank Robbery Foiled; 1 Dead, 29 Hostages Safe

After a dramatic New Year’s Eve standoff, police SWAT teams and bomb squads late Tuesday rescued 29 Bank of America employees and customers held hostage for 6 1/2 hours after a botched robbery.

The drama began about 4 p.m. and intensified around 8:45 when a bare-chested man--thought to be a suspect but later described by fellow hostages as “an idiot who endangered our lives”--emerged from the bank with his hands high in the air.

Hours earlier, a gunman had fled the bank and was chased down by police, who said he then shot himself to death in front of commuters on the Orange Freeway.

Police said the man, whose identity was not disclosed, told them before he died that he had left a satchel of plastic explosives in the bank lobby.

At one point during the drama, six people inside the bank pressed their noses to the front window and held up a note scribbled on white paper that read, “We’re okay.” One of the six was a little boy.

After finding no explosives, however, police began leading the hostages out at about 10:15, as onlookers--some of them family members--cheered and applauded. There were no reports of any injuries.

“I’m glad it’s over, that’s all I can say,” said one hostage, who was not immediately identified.

Another hostage said he arrived at the bank as the robbery was under way. He said a gunman spotted him and forced him inside, ordering him to sit on the floor with others.

“The gun was like dangling right by my head,” the hostage said. “This guy was a professional, that’s for sure. He repeatedly told people to stay calm, over and over again.”

The gunman told the hostage that his briefcase contained a “motion detector.”

“If we decided to leave, he was going to activate it,” the hostage said. “There was no reason not to believe him.”

Placentia authorities said they were called to the bank branch, at 160 E. Yorba Linda Blvd., when a silent alarm was sounded by a teller. When they arrived, authorities said, a gunman had taken two employees from the building and forced them into a station wagon after ordering out the driver and a child.

The suspect then sped to the northbound off-ramp of the Orange Freeway at Imperial Highway with at least four police cars in pursuit. Placentia police spokeswoman Corrine Loomis said the suspect’s vehicle collided with another car, forcing the station wagon off the freeway.

Pam Nicholson of Anaheim, who was on her way to the Brea Mall, said the suspect whizzed by her at about 70 m.p.h.

“I thought, ‘What the heck is his problem?’ ” she said. A moment later, she saw the suspect’s car stop. At that point, police said, he got out of the vehicle.

“I saw him raise a gun, and I thought, ‘My God,’ ” Nicholson said.

Brea Fire Department Capt. Dave Mahlstede identified one of the hostages traveling with the suspect as Barbara Kelting, 36, a bank employee from Placentia.

“She told me that he was very nice and very polite and told them that he would not shoot them,” Mahlstede said. “If anything went wrong, he would shoot himself. At the time when he decided to shoot himself, he told her to get out of the car and throw bags of money in another (vehicle).

“He was yelling at her to get out, but she had trouble getting her seat belt buckle undone,” Mahlstede said. “That was the last time she heard of him. He shot himself.”

Mahlstede said the suspect shot himself once in the temple with a .45-caliber handgun. The captain said the suspect was dressed in a gray plaid suit.

Mahlstede said Kelting was treated at Brea Community Hospital for minor back and neck pains suffered in the collision.

Times staff writers Bob Elston, Eric Young, Jerry Hicks and Dave Lesher contributed to this report.