newsminer.com

ANCHORAGE — A man sought by police in connection with a spree of armed robberies and a carjacking was found dead Monday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Anchorage police.

Police learned that Michael Ray Stith was inside a motor home parked near the Providence Hospital campus. When officers with the SWAT team arrived, three people left the motor home.

Officers then verified that Stith was inside and instructed him to surrender.

A gunshot was heard, and when SWAT officers went inside the motor home they found Stith.

Stith, 50, is the same person who once shot and injured a policeman during a bank robbery more than 25 years ago. He was wanted on charges that he robbed a branch of the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union on Sunday afternoon. He allegedly then walked across the street to Minnesota Billiards and carjacked a car from the parking lot. The victim of the carjacking was not injured, said police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman.

The car was later recovered.

Police believe that Stith also is responsible for robbing B&J’s retail store on Saturday and a midtown hotel on Thursday.

Stith was convicted of shooting and injuring policeman Ross Plummer in 1979. Plummer is not the deputy chief of the Anchorage Police Department.

Stith spent time in federal prison for the bank robbery and assault.