29 Hostages Freed in O.C. Bank Siege : Standoff: Placentia B of A customers and employees all emerge safe after hours-long drama. One suspect is chased by police on a freeway, then kills himself.

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

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

Police said the gunman, who was not immediately identified but was thought to be 38 and from Redlands, told them before he died that he had left a satchel of plastic explosives in the bank lobby.

At one point, as bomb experts carefully planned their entry into the bank, six hostages pressed their noses to a front window and held up a note scribbled on white paper reading: “We’re okay.” One of the six was a little boy.

After finding no explosives, however, police began leading the hostages to safety about 10:15, as onlookers--some of them family members--cheered and applauded. Relatives rushed to embrace their loved ones held captive. There were no reports of any injuries.

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

Another hostage from Fullerton 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., about 4 p.m. when a silent alarm was activated 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 removing the driver and a child.

The suspect then sped to the northbound off-ramp of the 57 Freeway at Imperial Highway with at least four police cruisers in pursuit. Placentia police spokeswoman Corrine Loomis said the suspect’s vehicle collided with another car on the freeway, forcing the station wagon off the road.

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

“I thought, ‘What the heck is his problem?’ ” she said. A moment later, she saw the suspect’s car come to a halt in the middle lane of the ramp, jammed in traffic. 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 he found the suspect dressed in a gray plaid suit. A passport was reportedly found in a pocket.

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

Loomis said that before losing consciousness, the suspect reportedly told authorities that he had left the satchel containing explosives inside the bank lobby.

After the shooting, authorities from the FBI, Placentia, Fullerton and Anaheim police departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad had descended on the building, blocking Yorba Linda Boulevard in both directions, between Bradford Avenue and Kraemer Boulevard.

Initially, FBI officials said they were uncertain whether a second suspect was holding the 20 employees and nine customers inside. Authorities said it was also unclear what type of explosives--if any--may have been in the satchel.

During the standoff, several dozen family members and friends of hostages gathered across the street at Sharon’s Bakery to keep vigil.

Richard Hollander, 55, of Fullerton, whose 29-year-old daughter has been a teller at the bank for 10 years, said he heard about the situation from his brother-in-law. Hollander, who waited with four other family members in the bakery, said that “when it initially happened, everybody was crying and screaming” in the bakery.

Hollander said he was trying to help the family remain strong.

“Like a father, I’m optimistic. My whole family is panicking and I’m trying to keep calm, but it’s kind of nerve-wracking,” he said.

He added, “I’ve got confidence they’ll do OK. . . . Hopefully, we don’t have some lunatic in there with them.”

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