The Federal Bureau of Investigation has linked the bank robbery suspect killed in a shootout with Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office deputies May 22 to more than 20 robberies over a two-year span.
Katy resident Mouafak Kazzaz, 26, was shot and killed after robbing a Sugar Land Bank of America.
He was known as the “Reckless Robber” due to his increasing violence and erratic behavior that escalated during his state-wide bank robbing spree.
Kazzaz and 25-year-old Larryl Williams were attempting to evade deputies May 22 when Deputy Charles Scott caught up to the getaway van near West Airport just east of Hwy. 99, and Kazzaz opened the back doors of the van and began shooting at Scott.
Additional deputies eventually cornered the getaway van at a dead end of West Bellfort and Dargail, and a shootout ensued which ended in the death of Kazzaz. Deputy Courtney Bank was injured by glass from a shattered windshield.
A woman with her two children in her car was hit by a stray bullet while driving by the chase. She recovered after surgery.
According to America’s Most Wanted, Kazzaz robbed banks in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas. Representatives of the FBI said he was hard to catch because each time he robbed a bank, he never wore the same clothes twice, wore sunglasses, sometimes wore a balding wig and would change his accent.
By: Jamie Mock on Wed, Jul 28, 2010
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