Takeover Bandits

Video shows bandits opened fire on police cars
November 9, 2004

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA-TV

A dashcam video released by Richardson police on Monday shows bullets from high-powered rifles flying through the window of a police cruiser, as the so-called Takeover Bandits made their getaway following a bank robbery last week

Richardson officers responded Thursday morning to a call that the American First National Bank at 400 N. Greenville Ave. was being robbed. They caught up with the fleeing suspects and began a chase that took them north on Central Expressway and into Plano.

The video from one vehicle shows an officer attempting to follow the suspects' getaway car on to the highway when the suspect vehicle suddenly veers back onto the service road and unleashes a storm of bullets, shattering the rear window of their car and piercing the front of the police cruiser.

Another dashcam view from several minutes later in the chase shows the suspects, who by now had abandoned their first vehicle and stolen another, slamming into a pole at the intersection of Jupiter and Summit in East Plano. The suspects jump out of the car, grab what appears to be some bags from the vehicle, and continue shooting at Richardson and Plano police officers.

Police: Lack of assault weapons results in disadvantage.
Amazingly, no officers were shot; only one officer suffered minor injuries from flying glass.

One of the suspects in the robbery, 31-year-old Guadalupe Fajardo, turned himself in to authorities in the Panhandle town of Slayton, where he was apparently visiting relatives. Fajardo was transported back to North Texas Monday afternoon.

The other suspects are still at large.

March 14, 2005
NBC5i.com

DALLAS -- The third member of a violent gang of bank robbers responsible for 60 armed robberies and a shootout with Richardson, Texas, police has been arrested in Mexico, police said Monday.

Ramone Gavina, 22, believed to be part of the "Takeover" Bandits, was taken into custody by Mexican authorities on a charge unrelated to the bank robberies in North Texas. Mexican police released Gavina before realizing he was wanted in the United States. Police later rearrested Gavina.
Police said Gavina (pictured, left) and the other members of the Takeover Bandits escaped Richardson police Nov. 4 during a gun battle that disabled five police cars while fleeing from a bank robbery. Gavina's brother, Roberto Gavina, was arrested earlier this year during an FBI raided an apartment complex in the 3700 block of Gus Thomasson in Dallas.

Guadaloupe Fajardo, 31, the first member of the gang to be apprehended, turned himself in to authorities at a West Texas police station in early November.
Ramone Gavina was turned over to U.S. officials, who will transport the alleged Takeover Bandit back to North Texas, NBC 5 reported.