A pair of armed bank robbers wound up behind bars Thursday after causing a bomb scare that shut down a South Bay freeway and put an area high school on lockdown.
According to San Jose police, the unnamed suspects robbed a Snell Avenue Bank of America at gunpoint at about 11:35 a.m. Witnesses said one of the suspects entered the bank, displayed a device and demanded money. He then fled to a nearby blue Honda with an unknown amount of cash.
Minutes later, as police were patrolling the area in search of the suspects, a citizen reported that a car accident had occurred on state Highway 85 near Highway 87 and had involved a blue Honda. According to the witness, people were running away from the scene of the accident.
Police say one officer arrived to find one man holding down another man and learned the downed man was reportedly one of the suspects and the other was a good Samaritan who was holding the suspect for police. Additional officers responded to Gunderson High School, where the second suspect was apprehended. The high school was placed on lockdown for a short time, but no injuries were reported.
Officials received word that an explosive was possibly inside the suspect vehicle. Highway 85 was then shut down in both directions for five hours while the bomb squad responded with a robot to determine if there were, indeed, explosives in the car. The scene was eventually rendered safe after bomb squad technicians detonated a water charge on a device inside the vehicle and determined it was not an explosive.
One suspect was transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the accident. Both were booked into Santa Clara County Jail on armed robbery charges.
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