Two Gunmen Killed In Bombing, Robberies Pipe Bomb Detonated Near Vancouver Kmart; Wells Fargo And Seafirst Branches Held Up

Two gunmen were killed Friday in a wild chase and shootout with police after a bombing and two bank robberies.

Police were looking for a third suspect. No officers were injured.

The string of crimes began about 10:30 a.m., when a pipe bomb exploded in or near a trash container at a Kmart store, said Eric Mellgren, Vancouver deputy police chief.

While officers and a hazardous materials team responded to the explosion, a Wells Fargo bank at Vancouver Mall was robbed by one person. Shortly after the Wells Fargo robbery, three or four suspects robbed a Seafirst branch bank.

A Clark County sheriff’s sergeant spotted a black Ford Mustang believed linked to the robberies, and a high-speed chase ensued.

An occupant of the car leaned out of the passenger-side window and began firing with a long-barreled weapon, striking the patrol car in the hood and windshield.

The sergeant, who was unhurt, continued the pursuit while alerting other officers. The chase ended just north of Washington 14 when the suspect vehicle lost control and ran off a road. Three people got out of the car and engaged in a shootout with police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

Two of the men were mortally wounded. A third fled on foot.

No officers were hit.

Six Vancouver schools were locked down around noon as authorities seached for the third suspect. Students at three elementary schools, a middle school and two high schools were kept in classrooms until mid-afternoon, and some students who lived in neighborhoods where the search was going on waited longer to be picked up by their parents.

A search of the suspect vehicle turned up several weapons, including an assault rifle and two shotguns, and a pipe bomb, authorities said.

The identities of the dead suspects and the officers involved in the shootout were not released. The officers have been placed on routine administrative leave pending an internal review.

Police said it was not known whether the explosion at the Kmart store was coincidental or some sort of diversion for the robberies. Nor were police able to immediately determine whether the two robberies, which occurred 13 minutes apart, were connected.

The case was being investigated by city police, the county sheriff’s office, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.