Suspect Dies In Holiday Gunfire -- Police Believe Man Killed Was Missing Bank Robber

In the end, Seattle's most notorious bank robber, whose use of disguises earned him the nickname "Hollywood," became too famous for his own good.

A customer-service manager recognized one of the two holdup men who hit a Seafirst Bank in North Seattle Wednesday as the Hollywood robber, a man who often wore heavy white pancake makeup, a dark hooded jacket and a tie in more than a dozen previous bank jobs.

The bank employee had seen surveillance photographs of the robber from earlier heists.

By the time the robber reached the counter and ordered tellers to step away from their windows, the manager had activated the silent alarm system, not once, but twice.

When the man believed to be William Scott Scurlock left the bank with more than $1 million, the FBI and the police already were on the chase.

Police believe the manhunt for Hollywood ended yesterday in a barrage of gunfire in an otherwise quiet North Seattle neighborhood.

Found by police hiding in a small camper in the back yard of a Ravenna home, the suspect fired on officers, who riddled the camper with return fire. Hours later, following a police standoff that displaced dozens of residents and disrupted numerous Thanksgiving dinners, police found the man's body inside the 10-foot camper.

Police could not immediately determine if their gunfire killed the man.

Earlier in the day, police had issued a warrant for Scurlock, 41, identifying for the first time the person they suspected to be the Hollywood robber.

According to the FBI, one of Hollywood's accomplices Wednesday identified Scurlock as one of the robbers. The accomplice, Steve Meyers, said he had met Scurlock several years ago and worked on his home in Olympia.

The shooting came less than 24 hours after police shot and captured Meyers, 46, of New Orleans, and Mark Biggins, 42, of Oxnard, Calif., two of three men who took part in the robbery of the Lake City branch of Seafirst Bank. Both were reported in satisfactory condition today at Harborview Medical Center.

Police believe the man who escaped capture Wednesday was Scurlock.

The events that led up to yesterday's shootout began Wednesday, when two armed men entered the Seafirst at 2800 N.E. 125th St. about 5:20 p.m., threatening employees and customers.

Meyers told investigators he had stayed outside the bank and monitored the police scanner while Scurlock and Biggins were inside the branch. Meyers said he radioed his accomplices when he realized that the police were responding to an alarm at the branch.

Police pursued a dark-blue compact station wagon seen heading south from the robbery.

The three men apparently switched vehicles near the 7500 block of 24th Avenue Northeast and were seen in a white van, said Seattle Police spokesman Sean O'Donnell.

As police chased the van, the men drove into a yard at 20th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 77th Street, got out and opened fire.

Police returned fire, striking two of the men, while the man believed to be Scurlock fled on foot. Police said evidence, including several firearms, were found in the van. The money, $1.08 million, was also found in the van.

An intense search of the neighborhood Wednesday night, during which a 12-block area was sealed off, failed to find the missing man.

Yesterday afternoon, Wilma Walker, 85, was about to sit down with family and friends to a Thanksgiving meal when she asked her sons, Bob and Ron Walker, to check if anyone was in the camper about 40 feet from the house in the 7500 block of 21st Avenue Northeast. She knew police had been searching for a bank robber.

"When we got out there, we found the back door locked," said Bob Walker, "So I picked up a piece of wood and started banging away at the door, trying to open it. I didn't think anybody would be in there, let alone him."

After spotting a man through a camper window, both men retreated to the house and called 911. Walker said the man must have crawled into the camper through a small alternate hatch door.

As four Seattle Police officers approached the camper a short time later, four gunshots were fired from the camper, Walker said. The officers, armed with shotguns and their standard-issue 9-mm Glocks, returned fire, pausing to reload before firing again, Walker said.

None of the officers was seriously injured in the gunfight, said O'Donnell.

"They just blasted that trailer," said Karen Mitchell, who watched the incident from Walker's kitchen window. "All the camper's windows were broken, and there were bullet holes everywhere."

Mitchell and Walker estimated police fired up to 30 shots. Police would not disclose the number of gunshots.

Twelve homes were immediately evacuated and police cordoned off a five-block area.

Authorities with the FBI and about four dozen other Seattle Police officers, including the Special Patrol Unit, Emergency Response Team of Seattle Police were called out in armored vehicles to try to persuade the man to give himself up.

Repeated attempts to contact the man via loudspeaker were unsuccessful even though a negotiations team brought the man's girlfriend to the scene and had the man's father on the phone, O'Donnell said.

By 6 p.m., police began firing rounds of tear gas into the camper. When there was no response, police fired another round about 30 minutes later.

Finally, about 7:40 p.m., members of the Emergency Response Team broke through the camper door and found the man dead, O'Donnell said.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the exact cause of death and identity.

Scurlock's last-known address was in the 1500 block of Northwest Overhulse Road in Olympia.

The owner of the house across the street said he saw Scurlock on and off during the past decade or so. "I didn't see him come or go," said the man, who did not want to be identified.

Scurlock had a modest-size house on a 19-acre tract of land. Real estate records show he purchased the property in 1990 for $110,000.

The home is in a largely rural area near The Evergreen State College.

Last night, many residents in the Ravenna neighborhood were upset that police apparently called off their search for the bank robbers about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

"I'm not surprised that the guy was still in the area, but I was surprised that police left," said Rick Roth, who lives a block away from the Walker home. "There were kids out walking around all day today and there was no visible police presence."

O'Donnell said undercover police had continued to stake out the area after uniformed officers and marked police vehicles had left. He also said police searched the Walker back yard Wednesday night, but was not sure if police inspected the camper.

Wednesday night's high winds and rain may also have hindered the ability of police dogs to track the missing bank robber, O'Donnell said.

It is not known whether Meyers or Biggins participated in any of the other "Hollywood" holdups, said FBI spokesman Ray Lauer. In some of the other cases, Hollywood has had entered the bank with a disguised accomplice.

Although he hit banks in several parts of the city, Hollywood appeared to have favorite targets. Two banks were hit more than once, according to the FBI.

Seattle Times staff reporters David Postman and Dave Birkland contributed to this report. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bank robberies attributed to "Hollywood"

-- June 25, 1992, Seafirst, 4112 E. Madison St. -- Aug. 14, 1992, Seafirst, 4112 E. Madison St. -- Sept. 3, 1992, U.S. Bank, 4200 S.W. Edmunds St. -- Sept. 11, 1992, University Savings, 4568 Sandpoint Way N.E. -- Oct. 5, 1992, Great Western, 2610 California Ave. S.W. -- Nov. 19, 1992, Seafirst, 4020 N.E. 55th St. -- Jan. 21, 1994, U.S. Bank, 8702 35th Ave. N.E. -- Feb. 17, 1994, Seafirst, 4020 N.E. 55th St. -- July 13, 1994, First Interstate, 1630 Queen Anne Ave. N. -- Jan. 18, 1995, First Interstate, 1701 N. 45th St. -- Jan. 27, 1995, Seafirst, 4112 E. Madison St. -- Jan. 25, 1996, First Interstate, 8517 35th Ave. N.E. -- May 22, 1996, First Interstate, 4009 E. Madison St. -- Nov. 27, 1996, Seafirst Bank, 2800 N.E. 125th St.