PHOENIX, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A bank robbery suspect killed in Phoenix Saturday is believed to be the man wanted for fatally shooting a police officer in Mississippi, the FBI said Sunday.
An FBI spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the man, whose name was not released, was shot to death outside a Phoenix bank he had just robbed.
The man had been the subject of a nationwide man hunt since the Monday shooting death of one police officer, Kevin "Gale" Stauffer, 38, and critically wounding of another, Joseph Maher, 26, in Tupelo, Miss. He also was a suspect in a bank robbery attempt in Atlanta, the newspaper said.
A man matching the suspect's description entered a Phoenix bank Saturday morning, displayed a handgun and then filled a bag with cash from the vault, the FBI said.
"The robber encountered a Phoenix police detective outside the bank and shots were fired," the FBI said in a statement emailed to the Journal-Constitution. "The bank robber was shot and killed in the exchange."
WTVA-TV, Tupelo, said the FBI said described the suspect as a 5-foot-9 man with a light complexion.
"Based upon information which has been developed over the course of this investigation, we believe that this suspect is the same individual who is responsible for the attempted bank robbery in Atlanta, the robbery of the BancorpSouth in Tupelo, the shooting of officer Joseph Maher, and the murder of officer Gale Stauffer," an FBI statement said.
