Nine Dead, Finally Tally on Botched Bank Robbery
It shortly after 7:30pm last night when the last of the assailants who
attempted to rob the Banco Nacional branch in Santa Elene, Monterverde,
gave himself up to authorities and ended the nightmare that lasted more
than 28 hours, left 9 dead and 17 injured by gunfire and astonished a
nation in an event that has no precedence.
Never had anything of this magnitude occurred in Costa Rican history.
Yerli Hurtado Martinéz, 22 years of age, was taken into custody after
being holed up in the automated teller cubicle since 1:30pm, when police
stormed the bank, rescuing the remaining hostages and finding the six
bodies who had died the day earlier in the initial shootout with
security guards.
In total, three of the assailants and five customers of the bank were
killed in the first minutes of the attempted robbery. A veteran police
officers, Óscar Gerardo Quesada Fallas, was killed Wednesday afternoon
when police stormed the bank as he tried to protect one of the hostages
from being shot.
One of the assailants got away during the police storming of the bank.
Police are being tight lipped on how the assailant fled the scene, which
is believed to be in a Toyota Hilux or if it was part of an agreement
they made for the release of three women hostages a couple of hours
earlier.
One of the dead assailants was the brother of Martinéz, who along with
his brother was wanted by police for the murder of a shop keeper in
Naranjo, Alajuela, in May of 2004.
The gang is also attributed to seven other bank assaults that occurred
in Turrialba, Puntarenas, Alajuela and in Miramar. The group of men is
believed to have met in a Cartago prison.
Rogelio Ramos, Ministro de Seguridad Pública, last night confirmed the
detention of the man and the deaths. Ramos was emphatic that none of the
deaths were attributed to police action.
Martinéz now face charges of attempted robbery, murder and kidnapping in
addition to prior similar charges, as we was sought by police for crimes
committed a year earlier.
The events as they occurred
The small town of Santa Elena has only on bank and Tuesday afternoon,
shortly before 4pm, five masked and heavily armed men stormed the bank
in an attempt to rob. The same bank had been robbed on two earlier
occasions.
This time, alert security guards saw heavily armed and masked men get
out of a pick up truck and headed for the front door. Bank security
guards fired on the men, killing two outside and wounding a third, who
died inside. In the shootout five customers inside of the bank were
killed as well.
Police arrived immediately on the scene, confronted by a hostage
situation. They had no idea of many people could be inside the bank, but
believed the number to be high.
At least a dozen employees were known to be working at the time and at
least another dozen or more customers may have been in the bank was well
when the gunmen burst in.
Many shop keepers and their customers became hostages of their own, when
for their safety, they were asked to remain in the stores in front and
adjacent to the bank. At least a dozen customers were in the restaurant
only a few metres away.
During the evening of Tuesday the situation remained calm but tense, as
police kept a closed net around the bank building and waited patiently
for the demands of the two men inside.
The number of hostages was too great for the two men, as several made
daring escapes on their own. The escapees could not give police too many
details as to what was going on inside the bank, other than there were
dead bodies and the men were armed with high caliber weapons. Some of
the hostages used cellular phones to send text messages to police and
family and were informed.
The assailants had demanded some ˘20 million colones (us$42.000 dollars)
and a get away car for the safe release of the hostages. At around 10am,
police made it known that a bag containing ˘18 million colones
(us$40.000 dollars) and car was waiting for them.
The assailants denied to accept it., but later one of them decided to
release three women hostages and fled the scene, though details are not
being given by police as to what really happened and how and when the
assailant actually fled.
The drama unfolded shortly before 2pm when police command decided to
storm the building. It had been almost 24 hours since the events began.
The remaining assailant holed himself up, with a hostage - a bank
employee - in the automated teller cubicle and kept police at bay for 2
more hours.
Police entering the building just before 8pm found the massacre, the
bodies of the five customers and one of the assailants. The two bodies
of the assailants that were killed outside were still on the street from
the previous day.
The nightmare had ended. It was now time for police to collect the
evidence and the small community to get back to living, though the
memory of this unfortunate day will live on for many years to come.
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Fotos captured by
cameras on the scene.
Yerli Martinéz Hurtado, leader of the
group.
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