Nine killed in Costa Rica bank standoff
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-10 09:29

Police stormed a bank in a hail of gunfire Wednesday following a thwarted robbery that turned into a 30-hour hostage standoff in this Costa Rican tourist town. Officials said nine people were killed, including five bank customers.

Herman Ramirez, left, one of several hostages who had been held captive at the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica in the tourist town of Monteverde, about 60 miles noth of the capital of San Jose, Costa Rica holds his head after escaping his captors Wednesday March 9, 2005. [AP]

Police failed to fully secure the bank during the raid because a gunman accused of being the gang's leader grabbed a final female hostage and locked himself in a room near the back. After hours of negotiations, he surrendered late Wednesday.

Police officers take up positions in front of the National bank where bank robbers took some 30 people hostage in Santa Elena, northwest of the capital San Jose, March 9, 2005. [Reuters]

"The only thing left now is facing justice," Security Minister Rogelio Ramos told local television stations, which broadcast the final moments of the standoff live.

Ramos said three suspected robbers, one police agent and the five customers were killed. The customers were all shot dead inside the bank and two of the assailants were killed in the street by guards at the start of the robbery. The third robber died when police stormed the bank.

Police officers guard a hostage who escaped from a bank robber at the National banck in Santa Elena, northwest of the capital San Jose, March 9, 2005. [Reuters]

The policeman killed was 44-year-old Oscar Quesada, a special agent who had previously served as a member of the presidential security team, Ramos said.

The gunmen initially held about 20 people hostage, but 16 escaped or were released.

After the robbery was thwarted and the hostages taken, the gunmen demanded $43,000 and a vehicle for the safe release of the hostages. They dropped those demands once police surrounded the building.

One of the people inside the bank who escaped, Alexander Arguedas, said the bandits entered the bank while shooting.

"I saw wounded, among them the guard, a boy who was dead and another girl who could only be seen by her shoes, who did not move," he said.

Santa Elena de Monteverde, about 60 miles north of Cost Rica's capital, is dotted with restaurants, hotels and lodgings for tourists visiting the nearby cloud forests.

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