A former missionary who killed himself during a bank-robbery getaway was trying to keep his family off welfare and had held up a bank before, his brother said.
Meanwhile, a bank customer who talked to police on the phone for several hours and wandered around the bank during the standoff - raising suspicions that he was an accomplice - said he was just trying to help.Jaime Sabogal, 38, of Redlands, shot himself in the head when police closed in after the Tuesday afternoon holdup, the FBI said.
Before he died, Sabogal said he had left a satchel with plastic explosives in the Bank of America branch and suggested he had an accomplice, which prevented police from rescuing the 29 people inside for 61/2 hours, said Lt. Chuck Babcock.
No bomb was found.
The 20 bank employees and nine customers were unharmed.
Sabogal's brother, Hernando Sabogal of Rialto, said his brother had a wife and six children and had trouble keeping a job since being convicted of bank robbery about five years ago. He served time in a California prison.
"He didn't want a welfare family and wanted the best for his kids," Hernando Sabogal said.
A native of Colombia, Sabogal had served as a Christian missionary in Central and South America.