Officer-involved shooting part of apparent bank robbery
A white male received non-life-threatening wounds to his wrist and he and two other suspects were transported to a hospital.
Ocala Police Department officials work at the scene of an overturned vehicle at a retention pond where a person suspected in the robbery of the TD Bank was shot near Southern Pig & Cattle off Southeast Maricamp Road in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, May 8, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
UPDATE 4:58 p.m.: During a press conference this afternoon, OPD Deputy Chief Louis Biondi said police were alerted to a robbery at the TD Bank at 2437 SE. 17th St. at 12:50 p.m. today.
Before fleeing the scene one of the suspects, a male, took a female teller hostage temporarily, until he got to his vehicle and fled
Biondi said officers arrived quickly and found the three suspects, two males and one female, in the 3100 block of Fort King St. A six-minute chase followed at speeds up to 90 mph to Baseline Road and ended when the GMC pickup crashed at the site on Southeast 38th Street.
Two of three occupants were trapped or stayed in the truck and a white male with a handgun was told by officers to stay and drop the weapon, but he failed to comply and two officers standing next to each other fired a “minimal” number of rounds perhaps only one each, Biondi explained.
The white male received non-life-threatening wounds to his wrist and all suspects were transported to the hospital.
Charges against the three are expected to include bank robbery, fleeing and eluding, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and kidnapping,
The incident has no known connection to a robbery that occurred at the same bank on May 3, Biondi stated.
In that case, according to the OPD social media post, Christina Gates Thagard was arrested and charged with robbery with a firearm. She was transported to the Marion County Jail.
Biondi said on Thursday, “We’re two for two in capturing recent bank robbers.”
UPDATE at 3:20 p.m. on OPD Facebook page: An adult white male entered the TD Bank armed and demanded money. The suspect was given an unknown amount of cash before fleeing in a black pickup truck. Officers located the vehicle, leading to a pursuit. Three suspects were involved in the robbery and pursuit. During the incident, one suspect sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the wrist and is expected to make a full recovery. Police are actively investigating this incident and we will share more details as they become available.
ORIGINAL POST: An apparent bank robbery on Thursday at the TD Bank at the corner of Southeast 17th Street and Southeast 25th Avenue resulted in a car crash and an officer-involved shooting as the alleged suspects tried to flee, according to the Ocala Police Department.
The car crashed about two miles east of the bank, near Maricamp Road.
Closed signs were posted at the TD Bank on Southeast 17th Street in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, May 8, 2025, as a forensics unit worked the scene after a reported bank robbery. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
Personnel from the OPD and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office worked at the scene on Southeast 38th Street, which runs from the north side of Maricamp Road, parallels the east side of Southern Pig & Cattle restaurant and flows into Southeast 44th Avenue.
A man on a bicycle, who said he had been in the area when medics arrived, claimed he saw an individual loaded into an ambulance, who he thought was a female, and which appeared to be alive.
This is the second recent robbery attempt at the same bank within several days.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
Officers with the Ocala Police Department work at the scene of an overturned vehicle after an alleged bank robbery and officer-involved shooting on Thursday, May 8, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
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