Araminta Wordsworth National Post, with files from news services

Saturday, September 28, 2002 The Associated Press Jose Sandoval, left, and Jorge Galindo seen at a bail hearing at the Madison County Courthouse yesterday in Madison, Neb. The two are among four people arrested in connection with a bank robbery in Norfolk, Neb., on Thursday in which four bank employees and one customer were killed. Jose Mario Sandoval Gabriel Rodriguez Erick Fernando Velal Jorge Alberto Galindo ADVERTISEMENT Just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, three armed men burst into the local branch of the U.S. Bank in Norfolk, Neb., a one-storey, stucco building in the middle of a strip mall parking lot. Within 40 seconds five people lay dead after being shot in the head, execution-style, a police officer testified yesterday.

The killings have left Norfolk, a rural town of 23,000, in a state of shock. Police Captain Steve Hecker said the reason for the violence is unknown and it remained unclear whether any money was actually stolen.

Asked why they opened fire, one of the suspects would say only, "It went to Hell in the bank," Capt. Hecker said during the first court appearance in Madison, Neb., for the accused killers.

They were were arrested later on Thursday after a massive manhunt. Four men -- the three who allegedly carried out the shooting and an accomplice who assisted them -- were each charged with five counts of first-degree murder. According to Capt. Hecker, one of the suspects cased the inside of the bank, then walked out and used a walkie-talkie to relay the location of the employees to the others, who started shooting as soon as they stormed in. About 50 people -- mostly friends of the suspects and relatives of the four bank employees and one customer who were killed -- packed the 30-seat courtroom yesterday. Capt. Hecker told the judge the suspects planned the holdup for at least two weeks, casing the bank several times to try to determine money drops and the number of employees at certain times of the day.

The officer then described what he saw on a bank surveillance video. The gunmen shot customer Evonne Tuttle, 37, as she stood at the teller's counter, then leaped over the counter. The slayings of the four others -- all bank employees -- cannot be seen on the tape.

Another customer was wounded in the shoulder by gunfire, while two other employees were unharmed.

The slayings stunned law enforcement officers and residents of the town, 145 kilometres northwest of Omaha. Its only previous claim to fame had been as the hometown of talk show host Johnny Carson.

As news of the killings spread, Mike Johanns, the Nebraska Governor, declared a state of emergency and authorized the use of a Black Hawk military helicopter for the manhunt. Roadblocks were set up throughout the area. In Norfolk itself, schools were locked down and students were forbidden to leave without an adult. Many banks closed or carried out transactions through drive-through windows only.

"In your heart, you honestly believe that stuff happens someplace else. It can't happen here," said Bill Mizner, the town's police chief, who had tears in his eyes as he read out the names of those who died.

They were bank employees Lola Elwood, 43, Jo Mauschbach, 40, Lisa Bryant, 29, and Samuel Sun, 50; and customer Evonne Tuttle, 37, who worked for a local newspaper and was driving to pick up her daughter from college.

Most of them were parents with young children -- eight in all -- while Mrs. Bryant had been married seven weeks and had recently returned from her honeymoon in the Caribbean.

That the suspects were quickly arrested did little to ease the shock from the bloodshed.

After the robbery, the trio broke into a house nearby and ordered its elderly inhabitants at gunpoint to hand over the keys of their car. What they did not know was that the 2003 model white Subaru Outback contained the latest technological toy, a satellite navigation system, which enabled police to follow their trail.

However, they abandoned the vehicle in Meadow Grove, about 25 kilometres down the road, and switched to a green Ford pickup. Somewhere between Ewing and Clearwater, they pitched three handguns out of the window. Just before noon, the truck pulled into a gas station at O'Neill, 112 kilometres northwest of Norfolk.

People there were already buzzing about the shootings and the Hispanic suspects, so Lisa Taylor, head of the counter crew at McDonald's, was on the alert when a man walked in wearing sunglasses, a dark shirt, a white-gold cross necklace and with a tattoo on the left side of his neck.

He did not seem agitated as he waited, holding a US$5 bill, to pay for his Big Mac combo. But she thought he "looked kind of suspicious" when he did not take off his sunglasses. Her manager called police, who quickly arrested him. Two accomplices were nabbed in the convenience store parking lot next door.

Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk, Jorge Galindo, 21, and Erick Fernando Vela, 21, both of Madison, were remanded in custody yesterday after a bail hearing. A fourth suspect, the alleged scout, was arrested in Norfolk at about midnight on Thursday. Police said Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, of Madison, was also the intended driver of the getaway car, but seemed to have had second thoughts.

Three of the men have lived in the area for years and attended the local high school. All four have criminal records, mostly involving drugs and weapons. Mr. Vela was charged as recently as last Friday with carrying a concealed weapon.

Investigators believe Mr. Rodriguez had been posted outside the building in a Cadillac, but drove off without his accomplices after he heard the shots from inside. The car was later found abandoned in a residential area of the town.

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2002