The elderly-looking gun-toting robber nicknamed “Grandma Bandit,” blamed for a string of heists of several Atlanta-area drugstores, was actually a man, police say.
The revelation was made by police Friday evening, hours after the suspect was fatally shot after a police chase, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.
“Positive identification has been made on the person involved in today’s incident on North Druid Hills. After further investigation detectives have determined the person believed to be a female suspect in fact is a male,” DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said in a brief statement, according to the newspaper.
“His name is Roxanne Taylor, a 57-year-old man.”
Taylor was shot multiple times after leading police on a chase on northbound Interstate 85. Taylor had been pointed out by someone who noticed that he matched the description of the "Grandma Bandit."
Parish said officers opened fire on the vehicle after hearing a gunshot. It was unclear if Taylor killed himself or died from police gunfire.
The "Grandma Bandit" was wanted in at least four robberies of Atlanta-area drugstores in the past two weeks. The most recent holdup was at a Rite Aid on Tuesday.
The suspect, who resembled a middle-aged woman, was captured on surveillance video wearing dark sunglasses and a black University of Georgia ball cap.
A motive for the crimes wasn't immediately known.
Taylor had been having financial problems. The company that owned the building where he lived began the process of evicting him, saying in court papers he owed $2,133, according to the Journal-Constitution.
