PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — An armed bank robber is in the hospital after being shot by a sergeant in north Phoenix on Thursday afternoon. Around 3 p.m., police were called out to an armed robbery at a bank near 7th Street and Thunderbird Road. According to Phoenix Police Sgt. Melissa Soliz, someone inside the bank called 911 and said a man had a rifle and a bomb in his hand. The man reportedly stole money and drove off from the bank.
At the same time, Soliz says a robbery witness followed the suspect and called 911. The Phoenix police helicopter and a sergeant in an unmarked pickup truck spotted the man driving on Interstate 17 near Thunderbird Road. The man took the Cactus Road exit and turned into a strip mall near 28th Drive and Laurel Lane, south of Cactus Road, investigators said. The man then got out of his car and began shooting at the police chopper. Soliz says this is when the sergeant shot the man. However, the man then got back into his car and drove off.
The suspect went into a nearby parking lot. More officers arrived and detained him. He was then taken to the hospital with serious injuries. A bomb squad unit was called and searched the man’s car, looking for any explosives. While searching the car, the bomb squad and ATF crews found a homemade bomb.