Police Shoot Man at Bank

A Santa Ana man with a pellet gun who telephoned police of his plan to rob a Fountain Valley bank was shot Thursday by police moments after he left the bank without carrying out the threat.

John Gregory Frost, 30, was listed in critical condition at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center after police shot him in the cheek. The bullet cut through his jawbone and lodged in his upper chest, police said. Frost was shot after he raised a pellet gun, which closely resembled a .45-caliber automatic pistol, toward three officers, police said.

Investigators are baffled by the man’s motives.

“I’ve never heard of anything like it,” said Sgt. Dann Bean of the Fountain Valley Police Department. “For someone to act like he did is certainly not typical of a bank robber.”

The bizarre incident began shortly before 11 a.m., when the man telephoned police from a gas station next to the Bank of America in the 16000 block of Harbor Boulevard, police said. Police notified the bank of the possible threat, and immediately dispatched officers to the scene and surrounded the bank, Bean said.

Inside, the suspect roamed around the lobby, but made no attempts to actually rob the bank, Bean said. Moments later, the suspect walked out of the bank, Bean said.

Police repeatedly ordered the suspect, who was standing a few feet from the bank’s front door holding a weapon, to surrender. For about 30 seconds, the suspect did not move, but then raised the pellet gun toward police, who opened fire, Bean said.

“It’s a horrible situation to be in as a police officer,” said Bean. “You are thinking of your own safety, your family. Many things can flash through your mind at a moment like that.”

Police fired three shots, but the suspect did not discharge his weapon, Bean said.

“We heard three shots,” said Susan Gibson, who works at Withers Goodyear, which borders the bank. “We came over and saw the guy laying covered in blood. . . . We bank here, and this is a real shock.”

Before entering the bank, the man allegedly pointed the gun at an unidentified woman who was sitting in her car in the bank parking lot. The woman, who fainted, was treated at a nearby hospital.

The shooting marks the first time since Christmas Eve 1995 that Fountain Valley police officers have shot a suspect, Bean said. In the 1995 incident, officers wounded a masked 17-year-old who held up a bank in a strip mall.

Police would not release the names of the officers involved in Thursday’s shooting, but said none were involved in the 1995 incident.

Under city policy, officers involved in shootings are placed on administrative leave until an investigation conducted by the Orange County district attorney’s office has been completed, Bean said. The investigations takes a minimum of three days, Bean said.

Police would release few details about Frost, but said he had a criminal record, though none of the offenses were felonies.