On a Monday morning, June 25, 1990, in Las Vegas, Nevada, 48-year-old Special Agent John Lawrence Bailey of the FBI walked into the Security Pacific Bank on East Desert Inn Road. He was there on official business, serving a subpoena for bank records. At approximately 11:53 a.m., a man approached a teller, brandished a firearm, and announced a robbery.
Hearing a teller's scream, Bailey, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, drew his weapon and identified himself, ordering the robber to stop.
As the suspect turned, Bailey fired a single shot that missed, shattering the bank's front glass door. The robber dropped his gun, and Bailey was able to subdue him and place him in a chair. However, as his attention was momentarily diverted, the suspect lunged at Bailey, knocking the agent's gun from his hand. The assailant recovered his own weapon and shot Bailey multiple times. Witnesses reported hearing about six shots fired. The robber then fled the scene.
Paramedics arrived to find Bailey bleeding on the bank floor. He was rushed to University Medical Center where he died in surgery about three hours later. An autopsy would later reveal he had been shot twice in the chest, once in the back, and once in the right arm.
Several hours after the incident, police arrested a suspect, 27-year-old Carlos Gurry, at his Las Vegas apartment. He was subsequently charged with murder and bank robbery. Another man, Jose Echavarria, was also sought for questioning. Echavarria was later convicted of fatally shooting Bailey and sentenced to death. Gurry was convicted of assisting in the murder, accused of being the lookout and getaway driver. However, after more than three decades behind bars, the charges against Gurry were dropped in 2023, and Echavarria was deemed incompetent to stand trial again after both men had been granted new trials.
