A 19-year-old suspect was identified Thursday morning by police as one of the three armed men who led police on a high-speed chase through at least three cities Wednesday, firing shots into cars and houses along the way, and throwing hostages from a speeding SUV after a bank robbery that led to the deaths of one hostage and two of the robbers, officers said. 
 
 Photos: SUV riddled with bullet holes after pursuit 
 
 Surviving bank robbery suspect Jaime Ramos, of Stockton, was arrested and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on homicide, kidnapping, robbery, and attempted murder charges, police said. 
 
 Police said that the deceased suspects, also Stockton residents, were 30- and 27-year-old men. 
 
 "During my 18 years as a law enforcement officer, this is the first time that I've seen this here in the city of Stockton," said Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, earlier Wednesday evening. "So right now, we're interviewing the bank employees, and we're going to debrief the hostages once they're OK. We can talk to them to see exactly what transpired inside the bank." 
 
 Watch report: 3 dead in Stockton bank robbery, gun battle 
 
 Thursday morning, police presence was still heavy as investigators processed evidence along Thornton Road, the site where the getaway car finally stopped in the deadly rampage. 
 
 Crime scene investigators working near Thornton Road found at least three handguns and an assault rifle, a photo of which was released by police. 
 
 The violence began around 2 p.m. when officers responded to a call reporting a robbery at a Bank of the West branch in north Stockton. 
 
 Arriving officers spotted three men walking three female hostages from the bank, in the 7800 block of Thornton Road, at gunpoint. 
 
 Watch full Stockton PD news conference following shootout 
 
 The robbers then stole a bank employee's SUV and began a pursuit, Silva said. 
 
 During the chase that lasted at least an hour and spanned several miles -- the pursuit even reached Lodi and Acampo -- one of the hostages was thrown from the SUV and taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound, Silva said. 
 
 The high-speed chase continued as gunfire continued to erupt from the SUV, he said. 
 
 Police cars and an unknown number of homes and uninvolved vehicles along the robbers' path were peppered with gunshots. The pursuit went from Highway 99 to Interstate 5 to Highway 12 and then continued along surface streets. 
 
 At least 14 patrol vehicles were hit by bullets. 
 
 "The firing never really stopped," police said. 
 
 Officers were fired upon "constantly" by the suspects, who had "massive" amounts of ammunition with them, Silva added. 
 
 No investigators were hurt. 
 
 A second hostage was later thrown from the vehicle, and officers tending to her found she had suffered a grazing bullet wound, Silva said. 
 
 When police finally disabled the SUV's tires at Otto and Estate drives in the northeast part of the city, officers exchanged a barrage of gunfire with someone inside the vehicle. 
 
 "They were trying to kill (the officers), no doubt," Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones said in a late-night news conference. 
 
 When the shootout had ended, the third hostage was found dead in the SUV and one of the robbers was also dead. The police chief said the hostage was a bank customer, and that she appears to have been used by the suspects as a shield during the shootout. The other two hostages are Bank of the West employees. 
 
 The surviving bank robber, Ramos, was conscious when he was taken into police custody, Jones said. The second suspect was confirmed dead Wednesday evening. All the suspects had ammunition taped to their bodies. 
 
 Witnesses said the exchange of gunfire between officers and the suspects sounded like war. 
 
 "It sounded like five minutes of straight gunfire," witness Sam York said. "It seemed like it wasn't real." 
 
 A man in Lodi said he saw the shootout from his property near Highway 99 and took cover under his lawnmower. He said he heard 40 to 50 shots fired. 
 
 Jose Maldonado, who said he saw the robbers taking the women out of the bank, said the men had AK-47-like rifles slung over their shoulders -- and they didn't seem to care that there were police all around. 
 
 "They were not afraid," Maldonado said. "They weren't going to take no for an answer. These poor women, they were screaming, they were so distraught, so scared." 
 
 The suspects had planned to ambush officers, police told KCRA 3. 
 
 Jones said the robbers also tied up a bank security guard earlier in the day. The guard was able to dial 911 before he was bound. 
 
 Jones provided a chronology as he addressed the media from police headquarters. 
 
 "It was such a chaotic ... fluid situation, really one of the most dangerous, tense situations that a police officer could go through," Jones said. "There was a lot on the line and the officers responded appropriately." 
 
 Bank of the West has said in a statement that it would not provide information about the victims. 
 
 "This is a tragic incident and we are focused on supporting our customers and employees," the statement reads. 
 
 Police were concerned throughout the chase Wednesday that the suspects would take more hostages or enter other businesses, Jones said. Fortunately, that didn't happen. 
 
 The FBI and the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office are assisting in the investigation. Officials are also looking into whether these suspects have ties to other bank robberies in the area. 
 
 There's no word on how the surviving hostages are doing or what their official conditions are listed as at the hospital, but their bullet woulds were considered minor. ||||| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Photo: / Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Image 1 of 3 A Stockton Police officer investigates the scene after a vehicle involved in a suspected bank robbery was stopped on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Stockton, Calif. Three women were taken hostage by the robbers and two were thrown from their getaway vehicle. Police shot out the tires of the fleeing vehicle fatally wounding two suspects. less A Stockton Police officer investigates the scene after a vehicle involved in a suspected bank robbery was stopped on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Stockton, Calif. Three women were taken hostage by the robbers ... more Photo: / Associated Press Image 2 of 3 Stockton Police officers investigate the scene after a vehicle involved in a suspected bank robbery was stopped on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, Stockton, Calif. Three women were taken hostage by the robbers and two were thrown from their getaway vehicle. Police shot out the tires of the fleeing vehicle fatally wounding two suspects. less Stockton Police officers investigate the scene after a vehicle involved in a suspected bank robbery was stopped on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, Stockton, Calif. Three women were taken hostage by the robbers and ... more Photo: / Associated Press Image 3 of 3 This Bank of the West branch on the 7800 block of Thornton Avenue in Stockton was robbed on Wednesday by the suspects. This Bank of the West branch on the 7800 block of Thornton Avenue in Stockton was robbed on Wednesday by the suspects. Police: Gunmen in wild Stockton shootout were gang members 1 / 3 Back to Gallery 
 
 The surviving suspect from a Stockton bank robbery, car chase and shootout that left a hostage and two suspects dead is a 19-year-old gang associate, police said Thursday. 
 
 Jaime Ramos of Stockton was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of homicide, kidnapping, robbery and attempted murder. Police said he was one of three documented Norteno gang members who took part in an hour-long chase and shootout with dozens of officers Wednesday. 
 
 The men shot at least one of three hostages they seized at a Bank of the West branch, may have pushed hostages from their getaway car, and indiscriminately sprayed gunfire that slammed into homes, other cars and pursuing police vehicles, authorities said. 
 
 “In my 18 years here I’ve never seen this level of violence,” said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department. “There was just a complete disregard for human life.” 
 
 The wild shootout started around 2 p.m. Wednesday when three armed men walked into a Bank of the West on the 7800 block of Thornton Road. Police said a security officer managed to call police before the assailants tied him up. 
 
 Officers swarmed to the bank as the gunmen took three women hostage, two of them bank employees and the third a customer, said Stockton police Chief Eric Jones. The suspects shielded themselves from police with the hostages as they left the bank and forced them into one of the employee’s Ford Explorer. The men then drove away with police in pursuit. 
 
 After driving a couple of blocks, the assailants shot one of the bank employees, police said. She then either jumped or was pushed out of the vehicle. 
 
 One of the pursuing officers stopped to help the woman, whom police did not name. She is expected to survive, Jones said. 
 
 Dozens of law enforcement officers joined in the chase as the SUV sped through Stockton, Lodi and Acampo, barreling along Interstate 5, Highway 99 and several neighborhood streets before heading back to Stockton. The gunmen fired at police with a “high-powered assault rifle” with a seemingly limitless amount of ammunition from magazines strapped to their bodies, Jones said. 
 
 Bullets hit homes, other cars and at least 14 law-enforcement vehicles, police said. The gunmen briefly lost pursuing officers at 2:48 p.m. and stopped on the Morada Lane off-ramp of Highway 99, apparently to wait for police. 
 
 An off-duty police officer spotted the vehicle with one gunman “leaning over the back trunk ready to fire upon officers,” Jones said. The officer opened fire, prompting the suspects to take off again. 
 
 Police said the officer “likely thwarted a deadly ambush.” 
 
 About an hour into the chase, the second bank-employee hostage was thrown or jumped from the vehicle that was traveling around 50 mph, police said. She was not identified and was expected to survive. 
 
 Minutes later, the SUV was finally disabled after its tires were shot out by officers near Thornton Road and Otto Drive in north Stockton. The gunmen again opened fire on police, who poured return fire into the SUV. Police said Ramos used the bank customer, who had been taken hostage, as a human shield. She and two suspects were killed. Ramos was not injured in the hail of gunfire. 
 
 Police said the two dead suspects were both Stockton gang members, ages 30 and 27. Officers did not release their names but said the 30-year-old suspect was the driver and the 27-year-old was firing an “AK-47-style” assault rifle from the passenger’s seat. 
 
 Police did not release the name of the slain hostage, but family members told several media outlets that she was Misty Holt-Singh, who was married with children. Dozens of friends and family were paying tribute to Holt-Singh on her Facebook page Thursday. 
 
 “I am absolutely heartbroken and still in shock. My prayers go out your family your children and all of our friends. She will be missed deeply,” one commenter wrote. 
 
 Investigators said they found a .45-caliber Glock pistol, a .45-caliber Ruger pistol and a 9 mm Ruger pistol, along with the assault rifle in the SUV. Authorities are looking into whether Holt-Singh was shot by police or one of the gunmen. 
 
 “We do not yet know when she was hit and killed or by whom,” Jones said at the press conference Thursday morning. 
 
 The FBI joined an investigation into the suspects’ potential connection to other bank robberies. More than 20 officers have been put on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure when an officer fires a weapon. 
 
 Chronicle staff writer Kale Williams contributed to this report. 
 
 Follow @evansernoffsky 
 

– Fleeing bank robbers in Stockton, Calif., fired AK-47-style rifles at police and threw two hostages from a speeding SUV in a high-speed chase and shootout that left two suspects and one hostage dead and left bullet holes in 14 police cars and an unknown number of homes. A witness tells KCRA that the chase started after suspects left a Bank of America branch with rifles held to the heads of three terrified women as police looked on. "These poor women, they were screaming, they were so distraught, so scared," the witness says. The chase lasted around 45 minutes, and a witness says the shootout after the stolen SUV became disabled at an intersection "sounded like five minutes of straight gunfire." Both of the hostages who were thrown from the vehicle have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds. After the shootout ended, police found one suspect and one hostage dead inside the SUV. A second suspect died later in the hospital and a third suspect is in the hospital with gunshot wounds. The city's chief of police says the dead hostage was a bank customer used as a human shield during the shootout, the AP reports. "In my 18 years here I've never seen this level of violence," a police spokesman tells the San Francisco Chronicle. "There was just a complete disregard for human life."