Police shoot, kill man at bank

Marisa O’Neil

Police officers shot and killed a man inside a Fashion Island bank

Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly pointed a gun at them.

The man, whose name had not been released as of late Tuesday,

entered the Washington Mutual Bank at 551 Newport Center Drive at

about 4:15 p.m. and attempted to negotiate some sort of transaction

to get cash, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

He was not trying to rob the bank, but his actions raised the

suspicion of bank employees, who called police regarding a possible

forged check, Shulman said.

Two officers quickly arrived at the bank and tried to get the man

to come outside. Several witnesses at the bank saw the man point a

gun at officers, he said.

One or both officers fired at him inside the bank, wounding him,

Shulman said.

The man, believed to be in his 30s, was taken to Western Medical

Center in Santa Ana, where he died several hours later.

Shulman said he did not know how many customers were inside the

bank at the time of the shooting.

Officers found two guns at the scene, Shulman said.

It isn’t clear what type of transaction the man was trying to

perform or if he had an account at the bank. He became argumentative

with the tellers, Shulman said.

“Tellers didn’t feel he was entitled to the money, but he was

persistent,” Shulman said.

More than an hour after the shooting, employees remained detained

inside the bank.

Yellow crime scene markers sat in a cluster toward the back of the

lobby as crime scene investigators dusted for fingerprints.

Police escorted employees, who were instructed not to talk to the

press, to their cars.

“I was shocked” was all one employee would say of the incident.

The officer or officers involved in the shooting will be placed on

administrative leave during the investigation, Shulman said. Newport

Beach Police will investigate the case, as will the Orange County

district attorney’s office, routine in officer-involved shootings.

It was the second officer-involved shooting in Newport Beach this

year but the first involving Newport Beach officers.

Irvine Police officers attempted to pull over a Santa Ana man in

their city the morning of June 29, but he led police on a 30-minute

chase. The pursuit ended when the man’s car crashed on Coast Highway

in Corona del Mar.

Officers shot that man after he allegedly tried to run them down

with his car.

The incident was not the first of the year at a Newport Center

Drive bank. In May, police arrested a 53-year-old transvestite on

suspicion of robbing a local Bank of America branch.

Brianna Catherine Cery, also known as Bryan Cery, walked into the

bank in the 500 block of Newport Center Drive at about 5:50 p.m.,

dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a blue tank-top with spaghetti

straps and a blond wig, police said.

Wielding a stainless steel revolver, Cery pointed the handgun at

one of the bank tellers and demanded money, police reported at the

time.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.