BRIDGEVILLE, DELAWARE (4/4/2015) A 35-year-old man died Friday night in an apparent suicide as police pursued a car linked to a Milford bank robbery, state police said. The driver of the car, a 31-year-old Greenwood woman, was unhurt and taken into custody.
The maroon Chevrolet Impala, the suspected getaway vehicle in the armed robbery at PNC Bank on U.S. 113 on Thursday, was first spotted about 6:30 p.m. Friday west of Greenwood, but a trooper lost sight of it.
A trooper then saw the car on Shell Bridge Road entering Bethel about 7:25 p.m. and began following close behind as other troopers closed in, police said.
The car went north on U.S. 13, then east on Middleford Road before turning west on Seashore Highway (Route 404) from Wilson Hill Road, going through stop signs at numerous intersections along the route of about 12 miles, police said.
Bridgeville police used spiked strips in the westbound lane near Oak Road, which slowly deflated the tires, state police said.
As the car began to pull to a controlled stop between Oak and Sanflippo roads east of Bridgeville, police said, a single gunshot was heard and the man was found dead in the passenger seat.
An autopsy was planned.
The woman driving was unharmed and no charges have been filed against her, police said.
State and Milford police are continuing to investigate and have not released the name of the man found dead in the car.
Milford police said early today that the suspect in the PNC Bank robbery had been identified as David Tyre, 35, of Harrington, after many tips through social media, and also said that Tyre was believed to have been involved in bank robberies in Denton, Maryland.