Wave of Terror Over as Bandit Who Robbed Pasadena Bank at Gunpoint is Reported Dead from Self-Inflicted Gunshot

The armed bank robber who threatened to shoot a panicky teller during a heist at a Pasadena bank on June 14 is thought to be the same man who robbed a bank in Goleta and then killed himself in a nearby business late Friday afternoon, law enforcement officials reported.

KEYT NewsChannel 3 in Santa Barbara reported that the suspect robbed a Rabobank in Goleta about 10:45 a.m. Friday. Immediately thereafter, according to KEYT, the suspect drove to a nearby business and asked to use the bathroom. When he didn’t come out after a long time, employees called police.

The suspect was found inside the bathroom, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, KEYT reported.

The suspect had been identified earlier by Danville police after he robbed a bank there on July 12.

Danville Chief of Police Allan Shields told KEYN his detectives used surveillance camera footage to identify a red Nissan Altima that led them to identify the suspect as Keith David Goodwin, 41, of Fresno.

Goodwin had come to be known as the “Faux Badge Bandit” because some witnesses said he wore a seven-point badge on his hip along with a shoulder holster during some of his robberies. He allegedly unleashed a string of armed banked robberies throughout southern and central California starting about May.

During the known robberies —which occurred on May 31 at a Wells Fargo branch at 1487 Foothill Blvd. in La Verne, June 14 at a U.S. Bank branch at 2355 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena and the same day at a Chase Bank at 805 W. Foothill Blvd. in Claremont, on June 15 at a Wells Fargo branch at 26900 Sierra Highway in Santa Clarita, on July 12 at First Republic Bank on Hartz Avenue in Danville and about two hours later that day at a U.S. Bank branch inside the Safeway store on San Ramon Valley Blvd. in San Ramon, and finally on Friday at a Rabobank at 5956 Calle Real in Goleta — the suspect entered the banks carrying a bag and presented a note demanding cash, said the FBI’s Laura Eimiller.

“The suspect has threatened victim tellers that he would shoot co-workers if the victim did not comply with his demands,” said Eimiller.

Goodwin is thought to be the robber who passed a note to a teller at the U.S. Bank inside the Vons at 2355 East Colorado Boulevard in June and then threatened to shoot her when she panicked and couldn’t follow his demands.

In that incident, Pasadena Police Lieutenant John Mercado reported at the time, the suspect ended up fleeing empty-handed after a second teller came over to the window to see what the problem was.

A Vons employee saw the man run out of the store. Assuming the man was a shoplifter, the Vons employee chased the suspect in the parking lot was able to see him enter a white sedan, which drove south on Sierra Madre Boulevard.

Goodwin remained at large since then, continuing his spree.

On April 15 of this year, the same U.S. Bank branch was the scene of a successful robbery when a woman threatened tellers by saying she had a bomb. That suspect reportedly remains at large.