2 FBI agents shot after warrant served in Mesa

Authorities: Suspected bank robber found dead

Two FBI agents were shot and wounded and a suspect found dead when a federal search and arrest warrant was served Friday morning in Mesa, authorities said.

The FBI later identified the man as 49-year-old Abraham Rivera, whom officials suspected to be a serial bank robber. Jill McCabe, an FBI spokesperson, said Rivera shot and struck two special agents as they approached the door of the home.

The warrant was served about 6 a.m. in the 500 block of South Dobson Road.

One of the agents was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t lifethreatening, and the other was treated at the location for minor injuries.

McCabe did not provide information about how Rivera died, and she said the investigation is ongoing.

A criminal complaint was filed against Rivera on Thursday accusing him of robbing from U.S. Bank locations inside Safeway grocery stores in Phoenix, Tempe and Gilbert.

The complaint states that Rivera robbed four locations between June 2019 and July 2020.

The FBI obtained surveillance footage from Safeway for the most recent robbery, which occurred on July 3 at a store near the 4000 block of Chandler Boulevard in Phoenix.

Investigators used the footage to discover Rivera’s vehicle was a red 2010 Toyota Matrix and used a license plate database to find a registered owner matching the robbery suspect’s description according to court documents.

Investigators obtained Rivera’s cellphone number from his apartment’s management office and found Rivera made a phone call close to the store in the third robbery around the time that it occurred.

Court documents state that investigators placed a GPS tracking device on Rivera’s car on July 8 and tracked Rivera when he visited a Safeway in Gilbert where security footage showed him passing a U.S. Bank to branch to use a lottery ticket vending machine.

Documents detailed that this behavior was likely Rivera casing the area for a future robbery.