Vancouver police on Friday evening said Jeffrey Anaya, 31, is the officer who shot and wounded an alleged bank robber Thursday afternoon.
The suspect, who has not been identified, remained in a hospital. Police said he was in stable condition Friday morning.
Anaya was hired in January and, before that, worked two years as an officer with the Oakland, Calif., Police Department. He now is on routine paid administrative leave during the investigation, police said.
At 3:24 p.m. Thursday, a man with a gun held up the VanMall neighborhood branch of Wells Fargo Bank.
He ordered customers to leave, and several called 911 immediately after getting outside.
“Multiple callers,” dispatchers said. “Robbery in progress.”
Many officers in patrol cars rushed to the scene.
The audio file of several 911 calls from witnesses was obtained Friday by The Columbian using a public records request. Readers can listen to it through a link with this story. Callers’ language may not be suitable for all listeners.
Some callers spoke with dispatchers while the robber was still inside the bank. When the robber emerged, other callers watched or followed and told dispatchers where he was running.
A few minutes later, officers found the suspect running behind stores in the nearby Vancouver Village shopping center on Northeast Thurston Way.
Anaya shot the suspect with one round in his upper leg. Photos from the scene showed the rear window of Anaya’s patrol car had been shattered, possibly by shots the suspect fired.
Vancouver police Sgt. Scott Creager said the suspect, initially described as a man in his 20s, is expected to survive; doctors were unsure whether they should perform surgery.
The suspect’s name and potential criminal charges will be made public when he is released from the hospital and booked into the Clark County Jail, Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said.
John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.
