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What a tragedy.... =(
NORFOLK, Neb. -- A distraught Nebraska state trooper killed himself Friday in the wake of a bank robbery that left five people dead a day earlier.
Trooper Mark Zach, 35, shot himself with his service revolver at around 1 p.m. just outside of Norfolk.
Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns says Zach had stopped one of the four robbery suspects last week and ticketed him for carrying a concealed weapon. However, Zach transposed two digits when entering the gun's serial number into a police computer.
The governor says that because of that mistake, the computer indicated that the weapon had not been stolen. The gun was confiscated by authorities and not used in yesterday's holdup.
However, a patrol superintendent says Zach apparently felt responsible for not getting the suspect behind bars on a more serious stolen weapons charge.
Zach worked as a Nebraska State Trooper for the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, a judge has denied bond for four men accused in Nebraska in one of the nation's deadliest bank robberies.
Police testified during a bond hearing Friday that three men were shooting as they ran into the bank Thursday. They hit each victim in the head within 40 seconds.
They've each been charged with five counts of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a crime in the shooting deaths of the four employees and a customer at a US Bank branch. The charges could bring the death penalty.
The hold-up in the farming town of Norfolk left four bank workers and a customer dead and another customer injured.
The four men stood before a judge as murder and weapons charges were read. The 35-seat courtroom was filled with friends of the suspects and relatives of the five victims.
The college-age daughter of the bank customer who died stood weeping in a court hallway before the bond hearing.
Police said the first person hit was a woman customer who was standing at the teller's counter. They said the gunman who shot her then jumped over the counter.
The testimony was based on a surveillance tape.
Police Capt. Steve Hacker told the court that the suspects indicated they'd been planning the robbery for at least two weeks. He said they had cased the bank on several occasions.
People could be heard crying in the courtroom, as the suspects appeared in court.
Family and friends of the men attended the court hearings. One man said he's known three of the suspects since they were little, and that reports of the bank robbery shocked him.
A woman who supervised one of the suspects at a factory says he was an excellent worker and wanted a better life.
Three men were arrested just hours after the robbery. Police captured the fourth suspect late Thursday. They said Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, had been driving the getaway car and apparently abandoned the three others. The men were identified by police as Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk; Jorge Galindo, 21, and Erick Fernando Vela, 21, both of Madison.
What a tragedy.....omg...![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Trooper Mark Zach, 35, shot himself with his service revolver at around 1 p.m. just outside of Norfolk.
Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns says Zach had stopped one of the four robbery suspects last week and ticketed him for carrying a concealed weapon. However, Zach transposed two digits when entering the gun's serial number into a police computer.
The governor says that because of that mistake, the computer indicated that the weapon had not been stolen. The gun was confiscated by authorities and not used in yesterday's holdup.
However, a patrol superintendent says Zach apparently felt responsible for not getting the suspect behind bars on a more serious stolen weapons charge.
Zach worked as a Nebraska State Trooper for the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, a judge has denied bond for four men accused in Nebraska in one of the nation's deadliest bank robberies.
Police testified during a bond hearing Friday that three men were shooting as they ran into the bank Thursday. They hit each victim in the head within 40 seconds.
They've each been charged with five counts of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a crime in the shooting deaths of the four employees and a customer at a US Bank branch. The charges could bring the death penalty.
The hold-up in the farming town of Norfolk left four bank workers and a customer dead and another customer injured.
The four men stood before a judge as murder and weapons charges were read. The 35-seat courtroom was filled with friends of the suspects and relatives of the five victims.
The college-age daughter of the bank customer who died stood weeping in a court hallway before the bond hearing.
Police said the first person hit was a woman customer who was standing at the teller's counter. They said the gunman who shot her then jumped over the counter.
The testimony was based on a surveillance tape.
Police Capt. Steve Hacker told the court that the suspects indicated they'd been planning the robbery for at least two weeks. He said they had cased the bank on several occasions.
People could be heard crying in the courtroom, as the suspects appeared in court.
Family and friends of the men attended the court hearings. One man said he's known three of the suspects since they were little, and that reports of the bank robbery shocked him.
A woman who supervised one of the suspects at a factory says he was an excellent worker and wanted a better life.
Three men were arrested just hours after the robbery. Police captured the fourth suspect late Thursday. They said Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, had been driving the getaway car and apparently abandoned the three others. The men were identified by police as Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk; Jorge Galindo, 21, and Erick Fernando Vela, 21, both of Madison.
What a tragedy.....omg...
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