According to Spokane County District Court documents, 50-year-old Douglas M. Cox pleaded guilty to three counts of armed bank robbery in Spokane in 1998. He was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. He was also forced to pay $13,100 in restitution.

Cox also pleaded guilty to two robberies that took place in 2002 - one in Kenmore and the other in Fife, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Cox is now accused of leading police on a chase that began after a bank robbery in West Seattle and ended in gunfire downtown Tuesday.

Dozens of patrol cars converged on the scene near the intersection of First and Spring Street where the fleeing SUV was finally stopped as the crowd ran for cover.

"They (police) started to block off the whole area, and they came out and said 'there's a guy with a gun. Everybody needs to get inside.' We go inside and about five minutes after that, we hear about seven gunshots go off," said construction worker Brennan Sanderson.

"All of a sudden I heard gunfire and 'get down!'" said witness Elianna La Torres. "One of the girls in the store over there said 'come in here.' As soon as I got in there, (I heard) more gunfire. It was coming our way. And we ran to the back of the Alexis Hotel."

Officers surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn and fired several rounds at the man in the driver's seat of the vehicle after he refused to surrender and displayed a weapon.

"Officers feared for their lives and the lives of people in the area," said police spokeswoman Renee Witt. "I do not know how many shots were fired; there was a volley of rounds."

Several officers fired at the man, who was hit at least once in the neck. Video from AIR4 showed most of the SUV's windows shot out as police waited to see if the wounded man would exit the vehicle.

"My co-worker got hit by glass from the windshield. They took him to the hospital," said Sanderson. "He was walking fine, so I'm assuming he was alright. He had blood on his face, a little bit of blood, they said."

Just before 11 a.m., officers with rifles and shields approached the SUV and pulled Cox out of the driver's seat.

The man, identified by FBI agents as Cox, was handcuffed and treated by Seattle Fire Department medics before being loaded into a waiting ambulance. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center and was rushed in to surgery.

An FBI spokesperson said the incident began just after 10 a.m. when Cox, wearing a wig and dress, robbed a Wells Fargo bank on California Avenue Southwest in West Seattle.

The man was armed with a handgun and jumped over the teller counter, robbed the bank, the spokesperson said.

Ralph Alegria, who owns a barber shop a few doors down, was in the back of the bank when the robbery occurred.

"I just heard (the employee) say, 'The bank's being robbed.' I started looking around a she said, 'you better not look,' " Alegria said.

He says the man never spoke, but he did notice the bank officer push the robbery alarm button.

The robber then ran outside to a waiting Jeep Cherokee SUV, but not before encountering a surprise of his own.

"He's holding the bag, and then a red cloud came out," said witness Harold Chacon. "And the car takes off. So I'm assuming that's when they tried to open the bag. That's when it exploded with ink."

Officers arrived moments later and that's when the chase began.

Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said the driver of the SUV that sped from the scene of the robbery jumped out of the vehicle near the intersection of 1st and Yesler and has been taken into custody. He was identified by the FBI as 43-year-old Kevin. V. Palmer. Police allege Cox then jumped into the driver's seat and took off again.

The driver continued on to First and Spring where he was arrested after the shooting.

Jamieson said there were no shots fired at the bank and no one inside the branch was injured.

In addition to the prior bank robbery conviction, Cox had also been convicted twice of driving under the influence, both times in 1998.