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Police shot and killed a suspected bank robber trying to escape with a female hostage Friday after he stumbled in a pile of snow from this week’s storm and the woman slipped away. When the man walked out of the Capital One bank branch in a Washington suburb, he was holding a gun to the bank teller’s head and was using her as a shield. The suspect also had a fake bomb taped to his body, police said. Officers were already outside the bank as the suspect walked out, and the confrontation unfolded on television with a helicopter camera hovering overhead. Video shows him backing away from police with the woman when the suspect tripped over a pile of snow from Wednesday’s storm. The woman ran away from the suspect toward police and held her hands up to cover her ears. Gunfire erupted shortly afterward. Takoma Park Police Chief Ronald Ricucci said the suspect was killed. “From our point of view, it looks like it was a successful resolution,” said Prince George’s County police Maj. Andy Ellis, adding that three of his officers fired at the suspect. “Things were changing very quickly, and the officers had to make split-second decisions.” Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said the robbery was unusual because the suspect appeared to have a bomb, as well as a hostage, and because officers reached the scene so quickly that the situation was still unfolding. Police from at least three jurisdictions responded to the scene because Takoma Park is near the border of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The city also has its own police force. Besides the device that looked like a bomb strapped to the suspect, a suspicious device also was reported inside the bank. Both ended up being plastic foam when checked by a bomb squad, police said. But the potential for an explosion affected the response by police officers, Ellis said. At least three people were treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. A police officer was grazed in the leg by a bullet. One person was pistol-whipped — the woman whom the suspect later used as a shield — and another person was treated for shock, police said. Bill Benjamin, who witnessed the incident from a nearby store, told FOX 5 that he had walked outside to take out the trash. He said he heard three quick shots fired and saw police chase down the suspect. Herschel Ivy, who saw the incident from across the street, told FOX 5 that he saw the suspect’s hands go up when shots were fired. Ivy said he heard seven or eight gunshots fired as the hostage ran toward police. “She ran directly through the cordon of police officers,” Ivy said. “You couldn’t tell if they were firing from the left or from the right.”

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Pure Comedy Or Irony?: Bank Robber Takes Hostage, Slips And Falls On Ice, Then Is Shot & Killed By Cops [Video]