Associated Press
BELLEVUE – A bank robbery suspect was shot and killed today in the cafe of a Nordstrom store at a shopping mall here, police said.
The shooting took place in a back hallway of the Nordstrom Grille, where the man had been sitting after apparently changing his clothes in a bathroom, Bellevue Police spokeswoman Marcia Harnden said.
The restaurant on the second floor of the clothing store was crowded with lunchtime diners. No other injuries were reported.
A witness, Mary Ruble, told KOMO-TV she was about eight feet away when police drew their guns and fired.
“My instinct was to drop. My instinct was to run,” she said.
Police searched Bellevue Square, a mall in the center of downtown Bellevue, after a Bank of America branch was robbed a few blocks away.
Harnden said the man, in his early 20s, was sitting in the cafe when police arrived. He then ran to the back hallway, where another officer was waiting.
The man pulled a handgun, and officers fired about four shots, she said.
“I heard the cops yell ‘Get down!’ and shots,” said cook Levi Stearns, 22. “It was that quick.”
The man was found with money in his backpack, Harnden said, but she did not say how much.
Harnden said the suspect had entered the bank branch, showed a gun and told everyone to get down. He ran off with an undisclosed amount of money.
Shopping center officials were told shortly after 11 a.m. he had been seen heading toward the mall, said mall vice president for marketing Jennifer Leavitt. The shooting took place about an hour later.
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