news-record.com

GREENSBORO -- Police and SBI investigators are working through the night piecing together details of a bank robbery and ensuing chase Monday that ended in a hail of gunfire and at least three injuries.

One police officer and two suspects were shot in the late Monday afternoon crime, police said.

Their identities were not released by police Monday; officers said it would be sometime Tuesday before those details would be available.

Police say Monday's events began around 5 p.m. when two people walked into the Wachovia bank branch at 3608 High Point Road and demanded money.

The robbers drove off in a dark Infiniti with an undisclosed amount of cash, said Capt. Janice Rogers, head of the Greensboro Police Department Criminal Investigations Division.

Police responding to the robbery saw the car leaving and chased it north on Holden Road.

Police Chief Tim Bellamy said officers pursuing the car and other witnesses saw a passenger in the fleeing vehicle lean out the window and fire a handgun at police cruisers while the chase ensued.

The chase lasted about five miles. The suspects' car eventually turned left on Patterson Street, heading west toward Business I-40, but it was stopped short of the interstate when a wreck occurred.

Bellamy said an officer rolling out a device designed to puncture car tires was hit by the suspects' vehicle. The car then veered into a van and came to a stop.

"As soon as the pursuit ended, we were engulfed in gunfire," Rogers said.

The officer hit by the getaway car was shot, Bellamy said. The extent of his injuries was not released, but he is in good condition, the chief said. The officer may remain hospitalized overnight.

Bellamy said the two suspects were both shot. One was believed to be in critical condition and the other was in stable condition. Early radio communications among the officers indicated at least one robber was shot and an officer had been hit by a car.

The officer and suspects were taken to Moses Cone Hospital. Their conditions were unknown Monday night.

Bellamy said evidence in the suspects' car may link them to other recent crimes, and that police had recovered several firearms from the car.

Bellamy said that about a half hour before the robbery, a carjacking was reported elsewhere in the city involving a car similar to the one used in the robbery getaway. Police did not know Monday night yet if the carjacking was connected to the robbery.

Patterson Street was expected to remain closed overnight Monday between Merritt Drive and Business 40. Access ramps to and from the interstate at exit 216 were expected to remain closed to traffic.

The SBI is investigating the shooting aspect of Monday's chase. Police will handle the bank robbery and wreck.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com