Caught In The Crossfire

For a brief moment, Jim Parker stared straight into the eyes of a bank robbery suspect in the last minutes of his life.

"He looked cold. He didn't look scared or frightened," said Parker, remembering how 46 year old James Hill drove head-on in oncoming traffic during a high-speed chase from Old Shell Road to Tillmans Corner.

"The first thing out of my mouth was this is not going to end good," he said.

Parker was driving on Hillcrest Road when he got caught in the middle of the chase. At the last minute, the suspect, who investigators say robbed the RBC bank on Old Shell Road, swerved side-swiping Parker's car and striking a mini-van driven by an unidentified woman.

The chase continued to Three Notch Road where Jim Hall and his wife found themselves in the same situation.

"I heard a metal to metal crash. By the time it took me to turn around and look, I saw him coming at me," said Hall, who was driving west when he spotted the chase coming east. Hall made a quick decision to turn into the First Baptist Church parking lot hoping to get out of the way, but the suspect turned too, slamming into the driver's side of Hall's car.

Hall says within seconds he heard gunfire. Mobile police officers on the scene fired more than thirty shots, killing the suspect, who was armed with an air pistol. One bullet struck a nearby car wash and another bullet shattered the window of a daycare. No one other than the suspect was hurt.

Five officers are on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation, which is common in any shooting involving police.