Bullets from High-powered Rifles Flying Through the Window of a Police Cruiser Plano,

[kellyhound]

Dashcam video by Richardson police shows bullets from high-powered rifles flying through the window of a police cruiser, as the so-called Takeover Bandits made their getaway following a bank robbery on 11/04/2004.

Richardson officers responded to a call that the American First National Bank at 400 N. Greenville Ave. was being robbed. They caught up with the fleeing suspects and began a chase that took them north on Central Expressway and into Plano.

The video from one vehicle shows an officer attempting to follow the suspects' getaway car on to the highway when the suspect vehicle suddenly veers back onto the service road and unleashes a storm of bullets, shattering the rear window of their car and piercing the front of the police cruiser.

Another dashcam view from several minutes later in the chase shows the suspects, who by now had abandoned their first vehicle and stolen another, slamming into a pole at the intersection of Jupiter and Summit in East Plano.

The suspects jump out of the car, grab what appears to be some bags from the vehicle, and continue shooting at Richardson and Plano police officers.

Police: Lack of assault weapons results in disadvantage
Amazingly, no officers were shot; only one officer suffered minor injuries from flying glass.

One of the suspects in the robbery, 31-year-old Guadalupe Fajardo, turned himself in to authorities in the Panhandle town of Slayton, where he was apparently visiting relatives. Fajardo was transported back to North Texas Monday afternoon.

FBI is asking for the public's help to find the third member of the "takeover bandits." A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of 22-year-old Ramon Gavina.

Gavina's brother, Roberto Gavina, was arrested earlier during an FBI raided an apartment complex in the 3700 block of Gus Thomasson in Dallas.

Update: March 14, 2005

DALLAS -- The third member of a violent gang of bank robbers responsible for 60 armed robberies and a shootout with Richardson, Texas, police has been arrested in Mexico, police said Monday.

Ramone Gavina, 22, believed to be part of the "Takeover" Bandits, was taken into custody by Mexican authorities on a charge unrelated to the bank robberies in North Texas. Mexican police released Gavina before realizing he was wanted in the United States. Police later rearrested Gavina.

Police said Gavina and the other members of the Takeover Bandits escaped Richardson police Nov. 4 during a gun battle that disabled five police cars while fleeing from a bank robbery.

[kellyhound]

Some claim the pics of the bullet holes in the police cruiser or from that shoot out but it looks like a different patrol car to me.

[swabby77]

The photos are from a different cruiser. That car is a Schertz police cruiser which is about 30 miles north of San Antonio. Dallas is a four hour drive north so he wouldn't have been involved in this shooting.

[chris]

I remember that video, I never seen those pics before though. Swabby seems right though, how did that agency get involved.