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Police identify suspects in Alcoa bank robbery

Deputies were called to BB&T Bank on Associates Boulevard around 2 p.m.

UPDATE, Wednesday March 7: Officials have identified the two suspects in an Alcoa bank robbery earlier this week as Florida residents.

According to the Alcoa Police Department, Eric David Iler, 33, of Wellington, Florida, took an undisclosed amount of money from the BB&T Bank at 109 Associates Blvd. around 2 p.m. Monday.

A bank teller told police Iler walked into the bank wearing a surgical mask, approached the counter and demanded money. He pulled up the right side of his shirt to show a pistol tucked into his waistband, police said.

Iler left the bank with the money and met Laura Ann Spencer, 39, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on the sidewalk outside, police said.

Bank employees told police the two left in a car, and a Blount County Sheriff's Office deputy later spotted the vehicle and followed it to a residence on Regent Court in Maryville.

Alcoa police said Spencer came outside and told officers Iler was going to kill himself. Members of the Blount County SWAT team later found Iler dead inside the residence. An autopsy showed he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Alcoa police said.

Spencer was taken into custody and charged with aggravated robbery. She is being held on a $60,000 bond at the Blount County Correctional Facility.

Her next court date will be March 15.

ORIGINAL STORY, Monday March 5: The Blount County Sheriff's Office says a woman is in custody and a man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a bank robbery in Alcoa Monday afternoon.

Alcoa Police Department officers were called to BB&T Bank on Associates Boulevard around 2 p.m. According to a news release from the sheriff's office, bank employees told officers a male suspect robbed the bank and left in a dark blue Volkswagen sedan.

The sheriff's office said a deputy spotted the vehicle on the U.S. Highway 129 bypass a short time later, and followed it to a three-story residential building on Regent Court in Maryville.

According to a news release from the sheriff's office, a SWAT team and members of the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force surrounded the building while deputies evacuated the other building tenants.

Members of the Blount County Sheriff's Office SWAT team respond to a bank robbery suspect on Monday, March 5, 2018. Photo courtesy BCSO.

A woman inside the residence came out and told deputies the man inside was going to kill himself, the sheriff's office said.

When deputies went inside, they found the man dead of a gunshot wound.

Official said they found a handgun and a "large amount of cash" inside.

The sheriff's office said an autopsy will be done Tuesday at the Knox County Regional Forensic Center. Deputies also plan to search the blue Volkswagen on Tuesday, officials said.

The sheriff's office said the woman was taken into custody on Monday, and charges are pending.

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