LEAGUE CITY, Texas (KTRK) — A man who robbed a Dickinson bank set off a 20-mile chase involving multiple agencies, leading to the suspect’s death when officers surrounded him in a southeast Houston dead-end street, authorities said.
The Houston, Dickinson, and League City police departments were among the law enforcement agencies involved in the chase, which occurred primarily on the inbound Gulf Freeway during the height of the Tuesday afternoon rush. The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office also participated.
According to Dickinson police, officers responded to a robbery at the PNC Bank in the 3500 block of Gulf Freeway at 4:49 p.m. They said the suspect entered the bank with a mask on, entered a teller area, and removed an unknown amount of cash before taking off in a blue vehicle.
About two minutes later, League City police said officers overheard the radio traffic about the robbery and received information about a blue Chrysler van. Officers located the suspect on the Gulf Freeway near East Medical Center in Webster at about 5 p.m., where they tried to make a traffic stop.
During the chase, the Houston Police Department said the suspect hit a stationary object and a civilian’s vehicle, got a flat tire, kept moving, and then later hit a League City police vehicle. HPD said no one was hurt.
HPD said its officers got involved during the last 15 minutes of the pursuit, which headed to the city’s South Side and the 4300 block of Alconbury off of Old Spanish Trail.
Houston police said the suspect didn’t realize he had gone down a dead-end street, and officers surrounded him. The suspect then exited the vehicle holding a weapon when HPD said an officer shot at him at least once. However, police said around that same time the suspect put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The suspect, whom police have yet to identify, died at the scene.
“Regardless of what he may or may not have been involved in, he obviously had a family who cared about him, and we reach out to them and wish them whatever peace and closure they can have,” HPD Assistant Chief Wyatt Martin said.
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