Robbery Suspect Ended His Own Life

The man believed to be one of the most prolific bank robbers in the country ended his own life with a single gunshot to his head, the FBI said yesterday.

As Seattle Police approached a trailer Thursday where William Scott Scurlock had hidden following a Wednesday-afternoon bank robbery, a single shot rang out, said Assistant Chief Harv Ferguson of the Seattle Police Department.

The officers, believing they were being fired upon from inside the trailer, opened fire. During a news conference yesterday, Ferguson declined to specify how many shots police fired, but witnesses estimated the number at more than 30.

Hours later, when police finally approached the trailer, Ferguson said officers found Scurlock's body with a 9-mm semiautomatic Glock pistol with one shot fired near his body.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office reported that single shot to the head was fatal, although several "noncontributory" gunshot wounds were found in his body, apparently fired by police. It was impossible to tell whether those wounds occurred before or after his death, however.

Burdena Pasenelli, special agent in charge of Washington state FBI operations, said investigators are beginning a lengthy process of trying to answer countless questions about Scurlock, such as what he did with the stolen money and how much he took.

Yesterday, authorities described how a combined force of law-enforcement agencies was able to "come together and put a plan together to apprehend one of the most prolific bank robbers in the United States."

Last August, the capture of Scurlock was made the "No. 1 priority" of a regional violent-crimes task force, based on his history of robberies dating to 1992. While his name was not known, police had come to refer to him as "Hollywood" because of his propensity for elaborate disguises while robbing banks.

By then, Hollywood had struck 13 banks in Seattle and two in Portland, Pasenelli explained.

An elaborate analysis was done of the robberies, and it was possible to conclude that he'd probably strike again on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, late in the day, and in the northeast part of Seattle.

Based on that projection, Seattle police and other task-force members had been "prepositioned" throughout that part of the city since August.

At about 5:28 p.m. Wednesday, "Hollywood" and another man went into the Seafirst branch at 2800 N.E. 125th St. Unlike the earlier robberies, he barely was inside when a bank employee recognized him from widespread publicity that had been devoted to the robberies. The employee sounded two silent alarms.

The robber was able to go into the vault with the employee, however, where the worker first offered him money from an upper-level drawer, according to court documents filed yesterday. The robber refused that money, however, and instead ordered a lower-level drawer opened.

The employee complied, and turned over $1,080,000. The robbers then fled.

As police and members of the Puget Sound Violent Crimes Task Force approached the bank, they began monitoring a tracking device placed with the money, the court documents said.

The robbers had fled in a dark-blue station wagon and apparently switched vehicles shortly after leaving the bank. The court papers tell how three task-force members, FBI Special Agent Ellen Glasser, Seattle Detective Michael Magan and Mercer Island Detective Peter Erickson, began following a white Ford van west on Northeast 77th Street.

Ferguson said the van fit a "profile" of a suspicious vehicle because there was condensation on the windows and a light flickering inside.

The van was then stopped by police, who exchanged gunshots with the robbers. Wounded and captured were Steve Meyers, 46, of New Orleans, and Mark John Biggins, 42, of Oxnard, Calif. The stolen money was found in the van along with an assault rifle and an automatic shotgun. A third suspect, later identified as Scurlock, fled on foot, however, and an intensive search followed.

Meyers identified Scurlock as the third bank robber.

Unknown to police was that Scurlock had hidden in a camper not far from where Meyers and Biggins were captured. Ferguson said officers had searched the area near the camper Wednesday night, and are believed to have tried the camper door but found it locked and so they moved on.

It wasn't until Thursday afternoon, when Bob and Ron Walker decided to check the camper, which sits about 40 feet from their house in the 7500 block of 21st Avenue Northeast, that Scurlock was found.

Scurlock's total take is unknown, but none of the other robberies were as lucrative as the $1 million taken Wednesday, Pasenelli said, but she said the amounts were "substantial."