Bank robber who fatally shot self is identified

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 12, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office released the identity of the bank robber who took his own life Friday afternoon with a sawed-off shotgun outside Gulf View Square. He was Danny J. Gerbasi, 52, of 13312 Carol Drive in Hudson. He was identified through his fingerprints, the agency said, as his face was disfigured by the shotgun blast. He has an arrest record in other states, including a bank robbery in Nevada, but has no arrest record in Pasco County. He was accused of handing a teller at the Colonial Bank at 9431 U.S. 19 a note Friday afternoon and riding off on a bicycle with an undisclosed sum of money. A driver chased him and Gerbasi fell off his bike near the north entrance to Dillard's, according to a sheriff's report. The Sheriff's Office said he fired one shot in the air before shooting himself.

[Last modified September 11, 2007, 21:34:50]