Neighbor: 2 killed in gun battle 'were extremely in love'

WESTMINSTER - Neighbors say the bank robbers killed in a shootout Thursday were broke, looking for work and desperate, but were also a very loving couple.

An FBI source told 9Wants to Know the two had never robbed a bank before in Colorado, did not wear disguises and while they have been living in Colorado for about five years; they used to live in California and Texas.

The two were identified Friday afternoon as 35-year-old Christian Benshoof and 25-year-old Ashley Johnson, both of Loveland. Benshoof had been shot multiple times and was killed by shots to his head and upper chest. Johnson also died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

The Adams County Coroner says it is reported the two were common law husband and wife.

They were killed in a gun battle which also injured two Westminster Police officers.

"They were extremely in love, their worlds revolved around each other," Gina Blanton, who lived next door to the couple, said. "I just couldn't believe they went and robbed a bank."

Westminster Police spokesman Trevor Materasso says Senior Police Officer Sean Chandler, who joined the department in 1998, was shot in the hip and taken to St. Anthony Central hospital. He was released from the hospital on Friday and is resting with his family.

Materasso says Chandler is in good spirits and hopes for a speedy recovery.

Deputy Police Chief Tim Carlson, who joined the department in 1987, was also shot. He was grazed in the hip, but he was treated at the scene and was not hospitalized. Materasso says he is fairly sore but is doing well.

The FBI says Benshoof and Johnson walked into the 1st Bank branch at West 120th and Sheridan Boulevard around noon Thursday holding guns with their full faces showing. Adams County Coroner Jim Hibbard says they were not even wearing sunglasses or bandannas.

A source says Benshoof, not Johnson, demanded money. He did not ask for it politely and there was a demanding verbal exchange back and forth with the bank employee, according to the FBI.

Police say the two made off with an undisclosed amount of money.

After the robbery, an officer spotted their vehicle near 104th Avenue and Federal Boulevard in the Safeway parking lot, prompting a chase.

Materasso says Benshoof and Johnson began shooting when officers tried to contact them.

"Suspects were firing from their vehicle during the pursuit as the vehicle was moving," Materasso said.

Materasso says the chase went north on Federal back toward 120th when an officer used a PIT maneuver to spin out and stop the suspects' car. But that did not stop them from shooting and Materasso says that is when police and the suspects engaged in a gun battle.

Benshoof and Johnson did not have kids and had tattooed wedding rings on their fingers. Neighbors tell 9Wants to Know they were driving a rental car during the bank robbery because a week and a half a go, they slid off the road in the mountains and wrecked their pickup truck. It is still in the shop being repaired.

Benshoof was a truck driver and used to be a security guard. He was licensed to carry a gun.

"I never felt uncomfortable with him," Blanton said. "He was more high-strung, macho."

Their families were gathering at their home in Loveland on Friday night to mourn their deaths.

Friends tell 9NEWS they cannot imagine why the couple robbed the bank and shot at police. They describe Johnson as a person who would give you the shirt off her back.

"She was a really sweet person," Blanton said. "I think something must have come up or happened to make them that desperate and that it was just a foolish, crazy, ignorant thing and too bad it's too late for them to realize that. I just send out prayers to their families."

Police say Benshoof, who was driving the car on Thursday, was killed and pronounced dead at the scene. Johnson, who was the passenger, was pronounced dead later at the hospital.

Police worked scenes at both 104th and Federal and 120th and Federal. They say there were at least two exchanges of gunfire during the chase.

On a recording of some of the radio transmissions during the chase, one officer said, "He's shooting out of the car."

Two 911 calls were made from the bank. In the first call, a woman says the robber was angry and demanded cash while showing a silver gun.

Jim Reuter, president of the data corporation for 1st Bank, said no one inside the bank was harmed. Reuter said he could not release more details because the investigation is ongoing.

Investigators believe Benshoof and Johnson were throwing money out of the car during the chase. Westminster Police also think someone tried to take some of the money that spilled out on the street, but it has now been recovered. It is possible there could be a separate criminal case related to that.

In Colorado this year, there have been 158 bank robberies. Last year, there were 150 bank robberies, most of them in the metro area of Denver. Wyoming had no bank robberies in the year 2008, but so far this year, there have been six, according to FBI statistics.