Police yesterday captured a gunman and freed the last of the hostages he had taken when he tried to rob a bank in central California more than 10 hours earlier, an officer said.

 

Sergeant Chris Douglass said officers seized the gunman after he asked police negotiators for cigarettes to be delivered to the Bank of America branch in Exeter, a small community near Fresno, California, where he was holding the last of his hostages a female bank employee.

 

"During delivery of the cigarettes, officers were able to extract the last hostage and the suspect is in custody," Douglass said.

 

She said no one was harmed but gave no further details.

 

The standoff began at 4:55 PM (0055 GMT) on Wednesday when the man entered the bank and held it up at gunpoint.

 

Police said he initially took eight hostages. Several were released on Wednesday night, including a young woman escorted from the building by police.

 

Early on Thursday, the three remaining hostages, all women, ran out, but their captor grabbed one and puller her back, police said.

 

One of the initial hostages, Bank of America loan officer Rebecca Tejada, said by telephone from inside the bank that the robber wanted the hostages to leave with him in a car.

 

Police identified the suspect as Jesse Martinez, 47, of Visalia, California.

 

Earlier, police said the gunman had requested only a getaway car. Authorities barricaded off the street in central Exeter, and a SWAT team and a police chaplain carried on negotiations.

 

Tejada said no one had been hurt, and that the hostage-taker was taking to them in a calm manner. The stolen funds, about US$100,000, were in a suitcase, she said.

 

"He's very calm and he's just telling us about his life," she said, describing their whereabouts as inside the bank's automatic teller room. "He's not rude."

 

Joel Rios, a customer, said he was in the bank when the robber entered, carrying a suitcase, and gave a note to an employee.

 

Tellers then began to usher customers including Rios out and stack money on the counter as the robber sat at a table and watched, he said. Rios said he did not see a gun.

 

The hostage-taker had allowed his captives to speak by telephone to their family members, police said.

 

(China Daily January 27, 2006)