Man Charged in Philadelphia ATM Killings

In this still image taken from surveillance video released by the Philadelphia Police Department, shown is an unidentified suspect near an opened ATM in Philadelphia, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007. The robber shot and killed two armored car guards servicing an ATM outside a bank early Thursday, authorities said. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Police Department) (AP)

PHILADELPHIA -- A convicted bank robber charged with killing two armored car guards had spotted the vehicle on the road and followed it to an ATM, where he opened fire, a homicide detective said Saturday.

Mustafa Ali, 36, of Philadelphia, executed the two retired Philadelphia police officers without saying a word, police have said.

"He follows the truck, he sees an opportunity and he takes it," said the detective, who worked on the case but requested anonymity because he is not a supervisor and is not authorized to comment publicly.

Ali owned the dark Acura used in the heist, although the FBI had not been able to glean the license plate number from the surveillance film, the detective said. Ali instead became a suspect because of tips called in from the public.

Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, whose department has struggled to solve murder cases amid a 'stop snitching' culture among criminals and witnesses, thanked the public for stepping up in this case.

"Within an hour, we started getting information from citizens," Johnson said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "(Ali) will never walk the streets, hopefully, again in his lifetime."

Johnson declined to discuss details of the case or the suspect's background, and police did not release his arrest photo.

Ali, who is married and employed, previously served seven years in federal prison for armed bank robbery under the name Shawn Steele, according to federal court records and law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

A 1993 indictment charged three men, including the 21-year-old Steele, with stealing a combined $25,000 in eight Philadelphia bank robberies in 1992. His supervised release ended in 2004.

Ali was arrested on an unrelated warrant Friday and later charged with two counts of murder, robbery, a firearms charge and other crimes after giving a statement.

He was arraigned Saturday night on the counts involving the ATM killings and was held without bail. He was represented by a public defender, whose name was not immediately available. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 10.

Police recovered the gun, a 9mm semiautomatic, near a Philadelphia community college after Ali told them where he had tossed it, the detective said.