Takoma Park police Lt. Tyrone Collington yelled to the masked bank robber to drop his gun and loosen his grip on the teller’s neck. It’s not worth it, man. Let the girl go, he shouted.
In an instant, as television cameras rolled, the robber slipped on a patch of ice, the hostage broke free, the robber raised his gun and Collington fired.
In this coverage of the hostage situation at a Takoma Park Capital One bank that resulted in the hostage taker’s death, Lt. Tyrone Collington can be seen on the left in a trench coat and tan ballcap.
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“I had to muster all of my skills and my courage to save this life,” said Collington, who was the first of six officers to shoot the gunman that morning in a snowy parking lot. “But I also had to take a life.”
There has been an unusual spate of fatal police shootings over the past year in the Washington region — 18 cases in which officers killed suspects in 2011, more than four times as many as in the previous year, when there were four.
Cops shooting bad guys are a mainstay of police television dramas. But in real life, that moment of confrontation is extraordinarily rare. When it does come, the emotional toll can last forever.
Those who kill in the line of duty often have daunting personal and professional hurdles to overcome. They pull the trigger to protect themselves and others, then live in isolation, suspicion and personal sadness as their actions are scrutinized and investigated, often very publicly.
In rare and poignant interviews with The Washington Post, four area police officers who have killed suspects in justified shootings spoke of the torment.
“I still pray for her and her family,” said Prince George’s Lt. Dan Sheffield, who fatally shot a 16-year-old girl who pointed a gun at him during a standoff in 1996.
Some of last year’s police-involved shootings passed with little attention; others captivated the region, such as the Takoma Park case, which was broadcast live as the drama unfolded on Jan. 28, 2011.
Collington was outside the bank with dozens of other officers when he saw the robber, Carlos Rudolfo Espinoza Arcia, walk out with a gun to the teller’s head. Arcia told authorities that he also had a bomb strapped to his chest.
Collington, head of the criminal investigations division, had seen the teller before because he banks at that Capital One branch.
He remembers her pleading: “Please, don’t let me die. I don’t want to die.”
He felt focused and confident, and he told himself that he was going home that night.
“I’m thinking about my family,” said Collington, 45. “I have two kids.”
When the hostage broke free, Arcia raised his gun toward her. Collington and five other officers fired. Arcia was shot 13 times, twice by Collington.
Officers found out later that there was no bomb attached to Arcia’s chest — just a sham made of sponges and duct tape — and that his gun was not loaded.
“Why he didn’t drop the gun, I have no clue,” Collington said, reflecting on the shooting. “Once I got home, those first few nights were sleepless. You’re thinking about the guy’s family, the victim, the investigation you’re facing.”
Life-or-death moment
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said no police officer wants to use deadly force. “It’s very traumatic emotionally for the officers. It’s devastating,” she said.
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