An alleged bank robber was shot and killed last week after revealing a replica gun during a confrontation with sheriff’s deputies in a nearby business parking lot in Shoreline.
Witnesses watched the suspect flee the Shoreline Alaska USA Credit Union at 15332 Aurora Ave. N before driving off with another suspect in a red pickup truck.
The driver, Jason W. Williams, 32, died from multiple gun shot wounds.
James Bartlow, 47, accused of robbing the bank, was uncooperative with officers and was subdued with a Taser stun gun before he was taken into custody.
The fake gun was an Airsoft Model G26C, a replica of a G-26 Glock pistol, said Sgt. John Urquhart, a King County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. Orange markings signifying it is a replica were painted over.
Urquhart said it has been repeatedly misrepresented in the media that the suspect displayed a “toy gun” at the officers.
“It was not a toy gun,” Urquhart said in an e-mail. “It was a replica gun that is designed and manufactured to look exactly like a real gun.”
Bartlow allegedly fled on foot before getting into a pickup truck driven by Williams. The pair parked at the Club Hollywood Casino, 16716 Aurora Ave. N, also in Shoreline, according to witnesses.
The officers confronted the suspects in the parking lot after witnesses directed them there.
After “numerous” commands from the officers, Williams exited the truck with a replica gun, according to a Shoreline Police Department press release.
At the sight of the gun, the officers fired at him.
Urquhart said the bank robbery has been deferred to the FBI. He could not confirm if the two were involved in a recent string of bank robberies in Kirkland, Seattle and Shoreline.
The series of robberies is under investigation by the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crime Unit and the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force, according to a Shoreline Police Department press release.
Under department protocol, the three officers involved in the shooting are currently on temporary administrative leave.
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