JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. -- Sheriff Mike Byrd shot a tire out on a car involved in a high-speed chase Tuesday morning, effectively ending the multi-state search for a wanted man dubbed the "Handsome Guy Bandit."
Steven Ray Milam, 44, a Tyler, Texas, funeral home owner, was wanted in a half-dozen bank robberies and most recently on a charge of attempted capital murder of a police officer following a bank heist Saturday in Richardson, Texas, authorities said. In that case, authorities said Milam shot at several police officers after the robbery.
It was around 10 a.m. Tuesday when Jackson County interdiction officers saw a red 2009 Volkswagen Jetta headed west on Interstate 10 pass by and ran the tag, learning the driver was wanted in Texas on charges of bank robbery and attempted capital murder. The interdiction officer attempted to pull Milam over but he kept going.
As soon a police radio call went out on the suspect, Byrd heard it and headed to I-10 to assist in the pursuit. On three separate occasions, sheriff's deputies deployed spike strips in an attempt to stop Milam. Each time, Byrd said, Milam managed to drive around the spike strips and kept going.
Byrd was traveling at speeds of up to 85 mph when he caught up with Milam's vehicle near the Gautier exit, pulled out his handgun, rolled down the driver's side window and shot out the tire using his left hand to fire and his right hand to drive. Byrd, who is right-handed, fired two rounds from his .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
"I took the tire out with the first shot," Byrd said of the stop just west of the Gautier exit. "I shot twice to make sure I got it (the tire) the first time. I ended it because I wasn't going to let him go any further. I'd gotten right up beside him when I shot his right rear tire out. He pulled over to the side of the road and me and a couple of officers had to physically remove him from the car. He got sick and vomited on himself. We believe he took some pills."
Sheriff's deputies had blocked off a portion of the westbound lanes of I-10 when they started deploying the spike strips. No one other than authorities were on the road, Byrd said, when he fired the two rounds at Milam's vehicle.
"I've had to do it before when we've had cars try to ram each other," Byrd said, "but that is the last resort to do something like that. I didn't want him (Milam) to get anywhere down the road and hurt someone else."
Once Milam was in custody, sheriff's deputies took him to Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula to be checked out. The sheriff said Milam's stomach was pumped because they believed he'd taken some pills just prior to be taken into custody.
He remained hospitalized Tuesday in Pascagoula. Once he's released, he'll be taken to the Jackson County jail pending extradition back to Texas to face charges there.
Handsome Guy Bandit
Texas authorities nicknamed Milam the Handsome Guy Bandit after authorities tracked down the mask he wore in the bank robberies to one dubbed the "Handsome Guy Mask." Police believe Milam ordered the "Handsome Guy Mask" over the Internet to use it when he went to rob banks in Texas.
"It's almost like one of those Hollywood-type masks," said Richardson police Sgt. Kevin Perlich. "You can wink with it on. You can see facial movements. It's very realistic."
Authorities in Texas believe Milam is responsible for at least a half-dozen bank robberies in 2011, the last of which occurred New Year's Eve at Compass Bank on East Campbell Road in Richardson, Texas.
In that case, Perlich said the suspect was armed with a handgun and wearing the same mask Milam was known to wear. Police issued an alert to be on the lookout for Milam.
When police officers got to the scene, Milam was fleeing the area on foot. One of the Richardson police officers drove behind the bank, Perlich said, and spotted the suspect running across the parking lot before he turned and pointed his gun at the police officer, later firing several rounds that struck the police officer's patrol car.
Milam managed to escape through a nearby wooded area.
Perlich said Richardson police officers searched the area and found the robbery suspect's mask and clothing. In addition, they retrieved the suspects key fob, which he'd dropped while fleeing the scene. They used the key fob, which is the mechanism drivers use to electronically lock and unlock their vehicles, to track down Milam's vehicle, further connecting him to the Richardson bank robbery.
When Richardson police learned of Perlich's capture Tuesday, they were surprised to hear he was taken into custody so soon after the last bank heist.
"We knew he was desperate to get away," Perlich said. "We figured he wasn't going to be coming in very easily. We figured he would be on the run for a while."
Milam served two years for two banks robberies in Texas in 2005, according to federal court records. The first robbery conviction resulted from a Feb. 24, 2005, robbery at Bank One on Preston Road in Dallas. The second occurred on March 8, 2005, at the Wells Fargo Bank on Frankford Road, also in Dallas.
"We're very happy he was taken into custody," Perlich said.
Copyright 2012 - The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
