Bank Robbery Suspect Kills Self in Bathroom
A man barricaded in the bathroom of a Goleta business apparently killed himself after robbing a bank blocks away. He’d flashed a handgun at a teller in the Rabobank on the 5900 block of Calle Real around 10:45 a.m. on Friday and passed a note demanding cash. He was seen headed northbound in a sedan described as a maroon Nissan.
As a helicopter circled overhead and officers from California Highway Patrol, UCSB Police, and Sheriff’s deputies began stopping cars that matched the description, dispatch got a call at 12:25 p.m. from a small business on the 100 block of Carlo Drive. A man had taken off his clothes and gone into their bathroom, the caller said.
Officers evacuated about 15 people from the building and worked with a canine and handler to find the suspect. The man — white, in his thirties — was found dead in the bathroom of what the Sheriff’s Office calls a “self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.” A car matching the description was found in the parking lot.
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the FBI on the case, which is determining if the man was involved in other bank robberies.
[Update: July 21, 2018: 2 p.m.] The man found dead in a Goleta business’s bathroom has been identified as Keith David Goodwin, 41. He is believed to be the “faux badge” bandit accused of robbing 10 banks in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. Bank surveillance videos show a white man in a brimmed hat, often wearing tropical print shirts. A seven-pointed badge had been seen at his belt, which gave the robber his nickname.
