VENTURA : FBI Identifies Bank Robbery Suspects

FBI officials on Wednesday identified two of three suspects in a Ventura takeover bank robbery as a 15-year-old male from Los Angeles and an 18-year-old Denver woman.

The third suspect, a male in his late 20s or 30s, remained in serious condition at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital after being struck by a tractor-trailer rig on California 126 as he scrambled to flee from police, authorities said.

Although the second man has not yet been positively identified, FBI Special Agent Larry Dick said investigators believe the suspects have “some gang affiliations.”

The woman, Shoente Lynn McKinzie, is suspected of driving the getaway car. She had been staying with an aunt in Los Angeles, Dick said.

McKinzie is being held in County Jail on $20,000 bail but is expected to be transferred to federal custody today and to face federal charges.

The robbery occurred shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday when two men burst into the Bank of America at 2698 E. Main St. and ordered customers and employees to get down on the floor.

One man wearing a nylon stocking over his head waved a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun around the room while the other leaped over the counter and scooped money from tellers’ stations into a pillowcase.

Dick estimated that the suspects were in the bank about a minute before they escaped in a rented Cadillac with a Nevada license plate. All three were captured after being spotted by a CHP officer and abandoning their car inside a Fillmore mobile home park.

As they dashed across California 126 toward downtown Fillmore, the one suspect was hit by the truck. McKinzie stayed with him, while the 15-year-old continued running north for 300 yards before being caught.

It was the second takeover bank robbery in Ventura County this month. The other one occurred Jan. 5 at the American Savings Bank on South A Street in Oxnard.