Credit Union Holdup Gang Thwarted by Stakeout

ANAHEIM —  A trio of gunmen suspected in six credit union robberies apparently returned Friday to one of their previous targets, only to be confronted by waiting undercover officers who wounded and captured one suspect and recovered a stuffed cash box, police said.

The robbery gang is believed to be the same one that made off with a total of $300,000 from robberies in Anaheim, Buena Park and Garden Grove. An intense search was on Friday for the two escaped gunmen who might have sped off in a green car.

The third suspect, whose name was withheld, was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center in Orange with a gunshot wound described as “serious but not life-threatening,” Sgt. Joe Vargas said.

The man was shot when he turned with his gun toward a plainclothes investigator chasing him, Vargas said.

Undercover officers were stationed Friday at several credit unions throughout the city in hopes of capturing the bandits, who Vargas said “showed a pattern” by hitting small, out-of-the-way credit unions, often near freeways, and sometimes returning to the same target.

The undercover officer sitting in a car outside Cal-Cen Federal Credit Union at 1149 N. Gilbert St. spotted the three as they entered the building shortly after 10:15 a.m., and immediately called for help--but the robbery was pulled off so quickly, only a few officers could arrive before the gunmen emerged, Vargas said.

As the robbers bolted out the door of the credit union, they split up and fled on foot, Vargas said. The man carrying a small cash box reportedly wheeled around to face the officer, who opened fire, Vargas said.

It was not clear if the two robbers still at large made off with any stolen money, and an audit was underway at the credit union to calculate any loss.

Police and employees at the credit union, which serves the employees of a computer components manufacturer called CalComp, said the gunmen were waving weapons and shouting when they barged in, jumped over the counter and emptied cash tills.

On Sept. 4, three men robbed the site in similar fashion.

“They’ve been very successful, but they showed a pattern that we observed and we acted on that,” Vargas said. “We were waiting for them. We wanted to put an end to this.”

The search for the escaped gunmen involved 50 officers from three cities, along with helicopters, police dogs, the California Highway Patrol and FBI agents, authorities said.

A stretch of the Santa Ana Freeway was also temporarily shut down to make way for the search effort.

In the industrial park where the credit union serves hundreds of nearby employees, roving groups of heavily armed officers searched cars, shrubs and dumpsters.

Witnesses, meanwhile, grappled with what they saw.

“I heard a shot and I looked and saw [the suspect] as he was falling,” said a 30-year-old employee of a graphics company facing the scene of the shooting, who declined to be identified. “I’m pretty upset. . . . I’ve never seen anybody shot before.”

Another witness, who also spoke on condition he not be identified, said he heard the robbery alert on his police radio scanner at home and ran toward the parking lot in time to see the man shot and taken into custody.

“[The officer] pulled out the gun, took aim, and one shot, bang, shot this guy,” he said. “I could see smoke coming out of the barrel. He stood there 20 or 30 seconds, then walked up to the guy.”

The Orange County district attorney’s office began an investigation Friday of the incident, a routine procedure for officer-involved shootings.

Minutes after the two robbers escaped, there was a hit-and-run crash a block away from the robbery scene, at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Brookhurst Street, Vargas said.

That incident, involving a speeding green car, likely involved the fleeing gunmen, Vargas said. No one was hurt in the crash, and there was no witness information on the green car’s license plate.

In several of the earlier holdups, the robbers escaped in a gray, early 1980s Oldsmobile Cutlass. Vargas said investigators believe the gang often used two getaway cars, parking one nearby so they could switch cars and throw off their pursuers.

The gray Cutlass was used in the Sept. 4 robbery at Cal-Cen Federal, Vargas said.

Employees of the credit union huddled together in the lobby of a neighboring business and acknowledged that they were badly rattled and upset by the two robberies.

The anxiety extended into the surrounding neighborhood, where police tape hung from street poles and the sounds of helicopters droned throughout the morning.

For Maria Clavel, who lives a block away, the frightening events began with a lone, loud gunshot, followed by the sound of police sirens racing by her home.

Her granddaughter, 5-year-old Sabrina, was in kindergarten at a nearby school when her teacher learned of the escaped gunmen.

“My teacher told us to get down,” said the girl, who crawled under a desk. “She told us stay down, because she told us there’s somebody [that] has a gun loose.”

Sabrina’s mother, Esmerelda Clavel, said she received a phone call from the school telling her the children would be kept there until parents came to pick them up.

“They did the right thing,” said Clavel of the school staff. “It’s kind of scary right now because they can’t find them, and they’re still out there somewhere.”

Investigators asked anyone with information on the series of robberies to call (714) 254-1528.

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Cops and Robbers

Three men suspected in other Orange County robberies exchanged shots with police after Anaheim Cal-Cen Federal Credit Union was held up Friday morning. Police were staking out the bank, which had recently been robbed. How the confrontation occurred:

1. Police watch credit union entrance from parking lot.

2. Robbers enter at 10:16 a.m.

3. Within two minutes, robbers leave on foot; police pursue, blocking streets with vehicles.

4. One suspect shot; two escape.

Source: Anaheim Police Department

Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times