ROBBERY

bandit” robberies were in San Diego County — they’d stretched from San Luis Obispo south to Riverside County. Shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday, a masked man with a gun robbed a Provident Bank branch on Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside, roughly three miles west of Interstate 215 and March Air Reserve Base, police said.

About 15 minutes later, authorities spotted the man’s SUV on Interstate 215 and gave chase. As the pursuit headed south down Interstate 15, the driver called 911 and threatened suicide.

Using spike strips, authorities flattened at least three of the SUV’S tires. The last stretch of the pursuit saw speeds slow to about 20 to 30 mph, and end in front of Rady Children’s Hospital in Kearny Mesa.

Surrounded by police, the man remained holed up in the SUV for more than

seven hours in front of the hospital. He shot and killed himself about 4:30 a.m., authorities said.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday confirmed the name of the man in the SUV as Rolando Fremista, 53, of Desert Hot Springs. A phone number connected to him through consumer records was disconnected. According to Eimiller, the “masked man bandit” is linked first to an April 26 heist in San Luis Obispo. There was a robbery in Chino in July, followed soon by one in Menifee and another in Grand Terrace in November.

The masked thief laid low until this month, robbing employees at a Murrieta bank Feb. 13. The Riverside bank was hit on Wednesday.

The FBI is continuing to investigate the string of robberies and could not say whether the “masked man bandit” is linked to any others.