Florida Bank Robbed Second Time In A Week, 3 Arrested After Officer-Involved Shooting

Three people are in custody after a bank robbery in Florida on Thursday led to a police pursuit and an officer-involved shooting.

The Ocala Police Department said an armed man entered a TD Bank branch on SE 17th Street and demanded cash at around 12:50 p.m. Thursday. After he was given an unknown amount of money, he fled in a black pickup truck. Officers located the vehicle, and initiated a pursuit.

Police said three suspects were involved in the robbery and pursuit, which lasted around six minutes and reached speeds of about 90 mph, Deputy Chief Lou Biondi said during a press conference.

The pursuit ended when the pickup truck rolled into a retention pond near the 4400 block of SE Maricamp Road, next to the Southern Pig and Cattle restaurant. One suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Randall Lee Williford, emerged from the vehicle “armed with a handgun,” Biondi said, and refused commands to drop the weapon. He was shot by police and sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the wrist.

Williford was arrested for robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, and tampering with evidence, police said.

Amanda Jean Bishop, 34, was arrested for robbery with a firearm, and fleeing and eluding police with disregard for the safety of people or property. Andre Javon Baker, 36, was arrested for robbery with a firearm.

Biondi said the investigation of the officer-involved shooting was turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The incident marked the second robbery at the same TD Bank branch in less than a week. On May 3, 40-year-old Christina Thagard, a former Marion County Sheriff’s deputy, was arrested shortly after allegedly passing a threatening not to a teller and walking out with more than $5,000.