Dash cam shows bank robbery suspects fleeing in a hail of bullets

Bank surveillance photos and police dash cam video of this week’s robbery and high-speed chase show hooded robbers pointing guns at bank employees -- one who was on the floor with her hands raised -- and the suspected robbers then shooting at and hitting a police car during the high-speed chase as they fled the bank.

Officials released the surveillance photos, video and arrest warrants for the three suspects who face a collective 40 charges Friday, two days after the bank robbery and nine-hour manhunt that ended with all suspects in custody. No one was injured in the robbery or chase, though the suspects fired shots inside the bank and as they were being chased by police.

The dashcam footage, provided by North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling, shows police chasing the suspects through North Myrtle Beach and Barefoot Resort before being run off the road when a bullet hit the officer’s windshield.

Arrest warrants, spanning 40 pages, outlining the details of the robbery, bullet-riddled police chase, and nine-hour manhunt for the three suspects were also released Friday, a day after the three suspects were denied bond.

Lance Roderick Hardiman, 24, of Longs, along with Rodrick Leland Berklery and Justin Alexander Pressley, both 25 and of Little River, face 40 charges, collectively.

“Each armed with a firearm, and a shirt covering their faces, they entered South State Bank, presenting their weapons, and firing two or more shots into the bank building, ordering all present to lie on the ground,” according to arrest warrants for each suspect.

The trio each faces multiple charges including criminal conspiracy, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, pointing or presenting a firearm, two counts of assault and battery in the first degree, kidnapping, wearing a mask to conceal their identity, bank robbery, discharging a firearm into a building, discharging a firearm into a vehicle, failure to stop for a blue light and two counts of attempted murder.

Pressley also faces a charge of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, records show.

The three suspects came together and agreed to rob the South State Bank on Main Street in North Myrtle Beach, and are each charged with criminal conspiracy, according to warrants.

Witnesses told police the men had semi-automatic handguns and fired two shots when they entered the bank about 11 a.m. Wednesday. One round entered the ceiling and another went into a wall near the teller’s counter, according to an incident report.

While holding the victims at gunpoint, the suspects took money from the bank, and fled together in a Chevrolet Impala, according to the warrants.

Officers found a “drawstring backpack that was filled with what appeared to be cash in the roadway,” according to the report. Cash around the bag was stained red by an exploded dye pack and police noted the odor of the dye still fouled the air around the discarded bag.

No one inside the bank was injured during the robbery, and a police chase ensued.

“During the chase, one or more of the defendants fired multiple shots from their vehicle at and into occupied patrol units as well as at the vehicle of a witness and into an adjacent home, the bullet lodging into the ceiling,” according to warrants.

Gunshots can be heard during the dash camera footage, and an officer had to drive off the road after his windshield was struck by a bullet.

Pressley was captured about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the wooded area of Long Bay Road and Kerchies Road. Hardiman was found in an abandoned residence in the vicinity about 6:30 p.m. Berklery was apprehended in the woods just south of Long Bay Road and west of Watertower Road about 9 p.m.

All three are being held at the North Myrtle Beach Jail without bond.