Bank Teller Killed in Thousand Oaks Heist

THOUSAND OAKS —  In what police described as an unprovoked, coldblooded murder, a bank teller was shot in the back of the head execution-style Monday in a morning takeover holdup.

No customers were present when two masked robbers burst into the Western Financial Bank branch on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at about 10 a.m. There were only four employees, two of whom were left handcuffed, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies said.

“We believe the suspects already had all the money” when the teller was shot, said Chief Deputy Robert Brooks. “The employees were offering no resistance, and there was absolutely no reason to do that. It was a brutal, vicious killing.”

The slain teller, a 39-year-old mother of two from Camarillo named Monica Lynn Leech, was the first person killed or even wounded in a Ventura County bank robbery during the last two decades, according to the FBI’s Ventura office. She was pronounced dead at the bank at 10:31 a.m., authorities said.

It is the first slaying this year in Thousand Oaks, a city perennially ranked as one of the nation’s safest with a population over 100,000. It is the 14th bank robbery in Ventura County this year and the 260th in the FBI’s Southern California region, authorities said.

Of those bank robberies, 81 were takeovers, including the one that led to the deadly shootout in North Hollywood. Authorities fear a trend toward more violent heists.

After the holdup, the robbers--described as a white man and a black man in their mid-20s--ran to a white sport-utility vehicle, possibly a Ford Explorer or a Jeep, in the residential neighborhood about a block south of the bank, authorities said.

They then crashed into another car on Hampshire Road near the Ventura Freeway onramp, denting their front fender, and continued onto the freeway. A witness to the crash pursued the vehicle but lost track of the robbers on the Moorpark Freeway near Avenida de los Arboles, according to sheriff’s reports. The witness, who did not know they had robbed a bank, gave a partial description of the license plate as beginning with “3T.” The county’s crime lab was trying to find a match, officials said.

An all-out police search in Ventura and Los Angeles counties failed to locate the fleeing vehicle. More than 50 sheriff’s deputies in patrol cars and two helicopters converged on the neighborhood around the Western Financial Plaza shopping center less than a mile from the Civic Arts Plaza. But the robbers slipped through the police dragnet.

“I wish we had more leads,” said Capt. Larry Robertson of the Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Unit.

Immediately after the robbery, workers and patients at Dr. Rick T. Swartzburg’s chiropractic office next door to the bank learned of the shooting and rushed over to aid Leech, whose dress was covered in blood. Swartzburg attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but it was too late.

Patient Frank Lussier of Thousand Oaks, who happened to have a handcuff key with him, was able to release a bound employee.

“Someone ran in and said, ‘Someone’s been shot at the bank,’ ” said Lussier. “We went over to the bank to see what was going on. . . . There was a lady on the floor and a lot of blood.”

Workers at the Camarillo Car Care Center, where Leech’s husband, Floyd, works, said he learned of the bank robbery from a radio news report. Jim Piraino, owner of the car center, said Leech was a “wonderful lady, mom and hard worker” and that his employees are extremely distraught over the family’s tragedy.

“My stomach’s been sick all day,” Piraino said. “I can’t believe something like this can happen to two such beautiful people.

“He’d tried to call and didn’t get through,” Piraino added. “We both looked at each other and had a sinking feeling.”

Piraino called the Leeches’ pastor, Bob Hislar of the Church of the Nazarene in Camarillo, after learning that Monica Leech had died.

Hislar quickly mobilized the church’s prayer chain, a group of volunteers who pray for church members. Through those calls and others, the entire congregation of about 140 people has been contacted.

“We want to pray for them and be available to do whatever they need,” Hislar said.

“Everybody’s having a hard time believing it. You read about it in the paper, you see it on TV, but it’s always somebody else,” he said.

Hislar described the Leeches as a loving family. Monica had two children--Andy, 13, and Stephanie, 8--from an earlier marriage. The family was close to one another and to their extended family, Monica’s parents in Somis. Andy was recently named boy of the year by Camarillo’s Boys and Girls Club.

It was a second marriage for both of them, Hislar said. Floyd’s first wife died of cancer. “It’s an important time to have a church family,” Hislar added.

Donald H. Kasle, president of Irvine-based Western Financial Bank, said Monday’s shooting was the first casualty during a robbery in the small community bank’s 24-year history.

Kasle said he recently visited the Thousand Oaks branch, which had been destroyed by fire more than a year ago, when it reopened in the same strip mall. He remembered the workers as a close-knit family and said the bank will provide professional counseling to the three other employees involved in the robbery, two women and one man.

Leech had worked at Western for less than a year, he said.

“What a tragedy it is,” Kasle said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the staffer.”

Brooks, the highest-ranking sheriff’s official in eastern Ventura County, said he could not recall a more brutal slaying in recent Thousand Oaks history. He said the callous nature of the crime warrants the death penalty.

“It just wasn’t necessary,” Brooks said. “I don’t understand why they did that.”

Authorities said the men entered the bank wearing dark nylon stockings covering their faces shortly after 10 a.m. Ordering the four employees to the floor, the robbers handcuffed Leech and another employee, then jumped over the bank counter and emptied the cash from the teller boxes, deputies said.

One of the robbers was described as a black man about 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, with a mustache reaching the corners of his mouth. The other, suspected of shooting the teller, was described as a white man, also about 5-foot-11, with brown or blond hair. Along with the nylon stockings, both men were wearing three-quarter-length yellow cloth jackets and jeans.

The robbers then told two employees to take them to the safe in the back of the bank, where the employees got the money out of the safe. After they received all the money, the robbers ordered the two employees back to the main room. It was then that Leech, handcuffed and kneeling on the floor, was shot in the back of the head.

Thousand Oaks Councilman Mike Markey, a Compton homicide detective, attended the ribbon-cutting for the new bank location. He said he felt a personal connection to the victim after meeting the friendly staff there--and a disturbing realization that bank robberies are becoming increasingly violent.

“They’re just shooting people for no reason,” Markey said. “To have a homicide involved in a bank robbery is very disturbing, especially in this community, which is a safe community.”

The council will consider recommending a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

Diane Hook, who works at nearby Prudential California Realty, said the robbery made her realize that even Thousand Oaks is not immune to crime.

“It just makes you think,” Hook said, shedding tears. “It could be you or your kids. I’ve lived here for 22 years, and we all feel safe and secure here, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

“Thousand Oaks is a safe place, but the times have changed.”

Bustillo and Hadly are Times staff writers, and Steepleton is a correspondent. Also contributing to this story were staff writer Kate Folmar and correspondents Penny Arevalo, Dawn Hobbs and Jason Terada.

* SHOCK AND SADNESS: Friends and relatives mourn a kind and friendly woman. B1