Seattle police shoot suspect
SEATTLE – Police shot and wounded a bank robbery suspect after a chase that ended in downtown. Spokeswoman Renee Witt says the suspect had a gun in a car, and officers feared for their safety Tuesday when they fired. TV video showed window glass shattering.
The wounded man, identified as Douglas Michael Cox, 50, was taken to Harborview Medical Center. The Seattle Times reported him in critical condition Tuesday evening.
Cox has a long criminal history in Eastern Washington. He was arrested in April 1998 in Spokane by FBI agents after a high-quality bank robbery surveillance photo was published in The Spokesman-Review. At the time, Cox was described in a news article as an unemployed 40-year-old from Colville.
“We had at least 15 people call us identifying Doug Cox as the robber,” FBI special agent Norm Brown recalled Tuesday. “It was one of the best-quality bank surveillance photos I’ve ever seen in my career,” the veteran FBI agent said.
Cox was identified as the man who held up Wells Fargo bank, 6228 N. Monroe, on April 6, 1998.
The FBI also tied him to the Dec. 16, 1997, robbery of United Security Bank, 14306 E. Sprague; the Feb. 27, 1998, robbery of Farmers & Merchants Bank, 3002 Southeast Blvd.; and the holdup of Horizon Credit Union, 201 N. Mullan Road, on March 10, 1998.
Cox pleaded guilty June 11, 1998, to three counts of bank robbery and was sentenced to 45 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Whaley.
He was ordered to make $13,140 in restitution.
The Tuesday bank robbery occurred at a West Seattle Wells Fargo branch. FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said an armed man in a wig and a black dress forced customers to the floor, jumped over the counter and fled to a waiting car with money. No one in the bank was hurt.
Police pursued the car toward downtown Seattle. A passenger jumped out and was arrested on Capitol Hill. The Seattle Times identified the passenger as Kevin V. Palmer, 43, who has convictions for theft, possession of stolen property and cocaine possession on his record.
The car continued to downtown Seattle where it was eventually blocked by police cars.