28-hour ordeal
Monteverde bank standoff ends with nine dead
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
(Posted at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday)

The last living robbery suspect surrendered Wednesday night and ended a 28-hour standoff at a bank in Santa Elena de Monteverde. A female bank employee went free at the same time. She was uninjured.

The drama ended at 7:30 p.m., leaving nine persons dead. Three were members of the robbery gang. One policeman died during an incursion of the bank about midday Wednesday. Five of the dead are bank employees or customers. Most were killed or injured during the bungled robbery and takeover about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Rogelio Ramos, minister of security, said that the unidentified suspect would be turned over to judicial authorities for prosecution. He is a man about 30 years, 5-foot, five-inches, thin and weighing about 130 pounds.

Ramos said that 24 persons had been held hostage during the course of the crime.

The standoff ended during a light rain in the mountain community. The bank employee, identified as Elizabeth Artavia, walked without assistance from the bank.

The suspect was seen only briefly among officers, who put him in a police van. Some policemen said he was a Nicaraguan, as were the three members of the gang who died during the failed robbery.

Earlier stories below:

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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
(posted at 3:10 p.m. Wednesday)

Seven persons, including an experienced policeman, have died during a bank standoff in Santa Elena de Monteverde that is nearing the 24-hour mark.

The nation’s tactical squad is poised to take over the building by force from what is believed to be one remaining gunman. Inside are at least five hostages.

Most of the original 19 or 20 hostages have escaped from the two-room branch of the Banco Nacional. Some were covered with blood.

Five bandits tried to rob the branch office about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. They were met with gunfire from guards, and two bandits died on the sidewalk.

Three entered the structure and took employees and 15 customers hostage, but one bandit is believed to have died a short time later.

The standoff lasted through the night. But in the dark and when the attention of the bandits were distracted, hostages managed to escape through an opening. Among these were two as-yet unidentified foreign women, believed to be tourists.

Monteverde and its cloud forests are major Costa Rican tourist attractions. Santa Elena is three kilometers (about two miles) north and east of the main town.

Tactical squad members freed five hostages in a midday raid today. Officers got inside one of the two rooms of the bank. It was here that policeman Oscar Quesada Fallas suffered a fatal wound. He died an hour later at a nearby clinic.

A 23-year-old Canadian, David Sander, was one of the hostages who escaped early today. A spokesperson for Hospital México in San José said that Sander, shot in the stomach, had gone through surgery and was stable and recovering.

The bandits are believed to be part of a gang that has robbed at least 18 locations. They
were armed with machines pistols and AK-47 military-style rifles.

Earlier story below

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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A bungled bank robbery near the popular tourist resort of Monteverde became a standoff between police and the bandits, who held as many as 20 hostages.

Three persons died in the robbery attempt. All are believed to be members of the band that instigated the 3:30 p.m. attempt.

The scene is the Banco Nacional branch office in Santa Elena de Monteverde, some 3 kms. north and east of the popular tourist location.

The standoff continued through early Wednesday with no sign of a resolution.

A bank guard, Alvaro Castro, is credited with seeing the bandits approaching the bank. Castro himself suffered a bullet wound to the body. He hid and fled the one-story bank building about 9 p.m. He was being treated in Hospital México in San José.

A woman believed to have been customer also managed to get free, but she was more serious hurt with a bullet in the abdomen and was in the same hospital in delicate condition late Thursday.

The bank bandits came heavily armed and there were reports that they carried AK-47 military-style automatic rifles.

Two living bandits remained inside the bank building, and law enforcement officials said that their first concern were the hostages. The bandits were said to be demanding 20 million colons, some about $43,000, and safe conduct to free the bulk of the hostages.

Included among the hostages were the bank manager, several employees and a cashier
identified as Nanci Ramírez Gómez. He sister, identified as Lady Ramírez Gómez, also was present in the bank at the time of the takeover and was reported to be seven months pregnant.

Two women, identified as foreigners in their 20s, managed to leave the bank or were set free. At least one was believed to be a tourist.

Of the two men who died in front of the bank, one was wearing camouflage in the style of a soldier. The second man was dressed in blue jeans and sneakers. Both came to the bank hooded. Their bodies remained on the sidewalk in front of the bank entrance most of the late afternoon and early evening. Both lay within three feet of each other on their backs. One appeared to have a weapon in his right hand.

The security guard credited with busting up the robbery suspected something suspicious was taking place, officials said based on incomplete reports. A second security guard joined in the firefight, killed two robbers and mortally wounded a third, who died inside the bank.

A shootout put many holes in the front door and glass entryway of the bank and also in the windows of nearby businesses.

Castro, the security guard, fled the bank structure in full view of television cameras that showed him in a blood-drenched shirt taking care to avoid being seen by the bandits inside the building.

The entire drama was broadcast on Channel 7 Teletica and Channel 6 Repretel most of the evening. Repretel switched some favorite soap operas to an alternate frequency.

Toward midnight spectators said that some five hostages had been released reducing the number inside the bank to about 11.

Thanks ID. I knew some of the veterans would remember or know exactly what happened that day.

Does anyone know what happened to all the guards with matralletas (assault rifles) in front on the CR businesses?


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