Serial Bank Robber Killed By Police

A bank robbery suspect killed Thursday by Mobile police should have been in jail, according to investigators in Louisiana.

Mobile police say James Hill, 46, was caught on surveillance camera holding up the RBC bank on Old Shell Road Thursday afternoon. After leading police on a high speed chase, he was shot and killed in the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Tillmans Corner.

A spokesperson for the Lake Charles Police Department says Hill should not have been Mobile's problem.

From February 2007 to September 2007, Hill was suspected in seven bank robberies in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, according to Sgt. Mark Kraus. Hill spent 18 months in jail before the charges against him were dropped.

"We felt that the evidence was compelling enough for a prosecution," said Kraus, who tells News Five at least three of the cases were never sent to a Grand Jury. "As a result of the decision that was made, our colleagues in Mobile, Alabama were forced to shoot and kill what we believed was a serial bank robber.”

Mobile police will not say how many offiicers fired at Hill, who we now know was armed with a GAMO V-3 air pistol, but Chris Levy, a spokesperson for the department, says the amount of force was appropriate. Witnesses at the scene counted at least 30 bullet holes in the suspect's car.

One bullet struck a nearby car wash, and another bullet shattered the window of Kidz Korner daycare about 50 yards from the scene.

Tabatha Richardson, who was in the daycare bathroom when glass fell at her feet, says she is still shaken by the shoot out.

"I had a very hard time coming back this morning," said Richardson, "looking and seeing what was going on and seeing how close it really was."

Levy says the officers who fired the shots are on paid administrative leave, which is routine in any officer involved shooting.