Robber shot by police tried to re-enter Fullerton bank with apparent explosive, body-worn camera footage shows – Orange County Register

A bank robber who told tellers he was armed with a bomb and then tried to flee with $58,000 was fatally shot by police in Fullerton after trying to break into the bank with the footage recently released alleged body-worn camera explosives.

On March 26 around 5 p.m., a 911 caller reported that a masked man entered a Wells Fargo bank, located at 141 W. Bastanchury Road, and demanded money from the teller at bomb threat in a white box it was. carrying, according to video of the critical incident released Thursday by Fullerton police. A customer and seven employees were inside the bank when the man entered.

After collecting the money, Scott William Thompson, 57, asked a teller to unlock the back door through which he would exit. Thompson also told cashiers he was wearing AirPods and listening to the first responders broadcast.

“He said he was going to leave with the money and he was going to leave the bomb inside,” another teller told the 911 operator. “And if he sees anyone outside, He’s going to blow it up.”

As Thomspon left the bank, he noticed officers across the parking lot and attempted to go back inside. Fearing he had entered the bank with an explosive device, an officer shot Thompson, according to the sergeant. Ryan O’Neil.

Faced with the threat of a possible explosive, agents did not approach Thompson and instead sent a robot to monitor him and determined that the device was designed to look like an explosive, which authorities call a “device fax machine,” O’Neil said.

Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene.

He had previous convictions, including for armed robbery of a bank and another robbery, O’Neil said.

The California Department of Justice is investigating the police shooting. The state agency, under Assembly Bill 1506, routinely investigates an officer-involved shooting that results in the death of an unarmed person.