A policewoman and a bank robber were both killed as the thief tried to make a break for it, with the female sub-manager as hostage, in the province of Vigo, Galicia.

The incident took place on the 28th of last month at 14.30h when the robber ran into the bank armed with a firearm. There were no customers in the branch at the time, but one of the bank clerks managed to escape and raise the alarm.

Nearby was a patrol car with 36-year-old police officer Vanessa Maria Lage Carreira, who had just returned to work after maternity leave, and 41-year-old, Sub-Inspector Victor A.B. They answered the control room alert and sped to the scene of the hold up in Calle Doctor Carracido.

They arrived just as the bank robber was dragging along the 36-year-old, sub-manager M.G.R., using her as a human shield by holding her with his arm around her neck.

The police officers told him to halt and lay down his gun but instead he opened up on the police officers, who didn’t even have time to duck behind the car. Neither police officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest as their unit had never been issued with them.

The policewoman fell to the ground with a bullet in the chest and neck whilst the policeman received no fewer than five impacts in his torso.

Another patrol car almost immediately turned up as back up and joined the fray and one of the policeman managed hit the robber who was already wounded by the return shots from the first policeman (Victor) before he went down.

Even the hostage was slightly wounded by a bullet fragment from a ricochet.

The ambulance crew managed to bring the wounded policewoman round for the transfer to the hospital but she died from her wounds shortly after arriving. Her companion was stabilized and rushed to hospital and his state is said to be still very serious.

The dead bank robber had been active in bank raids in the 80’s but had retired, but it seems that economic problems had pushed him back into ‘the trade’ sadly for all concerned.

(News: Vigo, Galica, Spain=