A Bloomington bank robbery suspect was killed by police after a California heist
A Spencer man charged in November with robbing a Bloomington bank was shot and killed by police in Southern California Thursday after he reportedly robbed a bank there.
Travis Shane Tarrants, 45, was declared dead after being shot by a police officer in Fontana, a city of 200,000 in San Bernardino County, 50 miles east of LA.
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, Tarrants apparently fled to a Wendy's restaurant after robbing a Bank of America branch in Fontana.
According to a Fontana police spokeswoman, several people called 911 to report that a man with a gun was robbing the bank. When officers arrived, witnesses said the robber had fled into the nearby restaurant.
Tarrants was reportedly shot when he exited the Wendy's and encountered officers. Further details about the shooting weren't available from police Monday.
Old National Bank robbery in Bloomington
Tarrants was arrested in Monroe County last November, charged with a Nov. 15 robbery at the Old National Bank branch on West Third Street in Bloomington. The day after the robbery, police saw the truck identified in the bank robbery driving on Ind. 446.
Previous story: Man charged with robbing Bloomington bank served prison time for bizarre stalking case
Detectives confronted Tarrants in the parking lot of the Fishin' Shedd. They said that as they were handcuffing him, Tarrants resisted and tried to get away, at one point grabbing an officer's handgun and trying to remove it from its holster
Police searched the truck and reported finding camouflage clothing that matched what the bank robber had been wearing and a black BB pistol that resembled the weapon shown during the robbery.
Tarrants was charged with armed robbery, attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer and resisting law enforcement resulting in injury. His bond was set at $15,000 surety and $1,500 cash.
During a Jan. 12 court hearing, Monroe Circuit Judge Darcie Fawcett released Tarrants from jail on his own recognizance, over objections made by the prosecutor in the case. According to court records, Tarrants was "to go directly to the Wheeler Mission to participate in the Foundations Residential Program."
Tarrants did not show up for a required Feb. 15 pre-trial hearing, according to the case docket. The probation department notified the court on Feb. 28 that Tarrants had violated terms of his pre-trial release, and Fawcett issued a warrant that day for his arrest. The arrest warrant was still was pending Monday.
A hearing in the case was scheduled for 9 a.m. April 14.
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Former French Lick West Baden Museum faced bizarre accusations
Tarrants, a former director at the French Lick West Baden Museum, was released from state prison in September 2021 after serving a five-year sentence. He had pleaded to two counts of felony stalking in connection with a bizarre 2016 case in Jackson County in which he sent dead animals through the mail.
He had applied in the spring of 2016 for a fourth-grade teaching position and basketball coaching job in the Springs Valley School Corp. in Orange County. Tarrants didn't get the job and retaliated by accusing the man who was hired of having sex with students.
Tarrants also threatened to kill the man's fiancee and baby if he didn't resign, police said, and mailed dead skunks and a raccoon to school officials and the hired teacher.
A July 2017 plea agreement in that case dismissed two felony counts of intimidation for the threats and also two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief that accused Tarrants of using spray paint to put threatening messages on the two victims' cars.
Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Spencer man dies in California police shooting after bank robbery
