A Newnan man who robbed an Alabama bank Wednesday morning before shooting and killing himself hours later during a police standoff in metro Atlanta is now linked to two 2018 robberies, police said.
Oxford, Ala., police responded to a Regions Bank along Quintard Drive about 9 a.m. after receiving a call about a robbery, police said. Officers got a description of the suspect and his vehicle, identifying him as Mark Garniss within 30 minutes, police said.
After the robbery, Garniss returned to his Newnan apartment, where his pickup truck was discovered at the Stillwood Farms complex just before 1 p.m., Newnan spokeswoman Ashley Copeland said.
After seeing police outside the building, Garniss went back inside his apartment, police said. An hourslong standoff ensued, with the robbery suspect refusing to surrender, Copeland said.
It finally came to an end just before 4 p.m. when officers heard a muffled gunshot from inside the apartment, Copeland said.
Police entered the home to find the man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
On Thursday, two Georgia police departments said Garniss was responsible for two unsolved bank robberies last year.
LaGrange police said Garniss robbed the Charter Bank along South Davis Road on Aug. 21, and West Point police believe he’s responsible for a Dec. 21 robbery with a similar M.O.
In both cases, a man wearing a surgical mask entered the bank and handed a note to the teller demanding cash, authorities said.
“It was a typed note presented to the teller,” LaGrange Detective Ley Wynne said, adding that in Wednesday’s Alabama robbery, Garniss also wore a surgical mask and covered his fingertips with bandages to avoid being identified.
Garniss also reportedly wore the same pair of white tennis shoes that he wore in his two previous heists, detectives said.
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