BURNEY — Shasta County District Attorney Jerry Benito announced Thursday that the deadly shooting of a Chico man who held up a Burney bank and wounded two customers Dec. 15, was justified by law and necessary to protect the safety of hostages.

The conclusion was expected, but Benito covered extraordinary details about the incident during a press conference that suggest gunman Gregorio Arguetta Estrada, 47, had more than bank robbery on his mind.

The Chico resident entered the U.S. Bank on Burney’s main street just after noon. Within minutes he had shot two customers and had received $19,000 in cash, which he placed in a laptop bag.

Rather than leave, Estrada directed a teller to call police, then began asking bank employees about the whereabouts of their car keys. But he reportedly never attempted to obtain a vehicle.

Benito said events that led up to the robbery and standoff are equally puzzling.

A multi-agency investigation team never found a motive for Estrada’s actions, but said he was unemployed, in debt and estranged from his family.

For a year before the incident he lived alone in a townhouse apartment on Ilahee Lane in Chico, off East Avenue.

Benito said Estrada, who owned a car and a motorcycle, took a bus to Redding on Dec. 14 and checked in for a two-night stay at the Red Lion Inn. He paid in cash, and was alone. A search of his room reportedly found nothing tied to the robbery.

The next morning he took a taxi to a Redding bus stop, and caught a bus to Burney.

Estrada reportedly asked to be dropped off in the middle of town, but the driver said he could only stop at a designated location. It’s believed Estrada walked to the bank from there, but no one reported seeing him carrying firearms.

There were four employees and two customers in the bank when Estrada entered. He walked directly up to Burney resident Timothy Kerstin, 53, and pointed a handgun at the back of his head.

Benito said Estrada had failed to chamber a round, and the gun didn’t fire. He chambered a round and fired again, striking the man in the back of the neck.

Kerstin fell to the ground, and the teller helping him, identified by Benito only as Jill, went to the ground behind her teller window.

Estrada then turned his attention to customer Gloria Brown, 67. He shot Brown in the wrist. She reportedly fell to the floor of the bank and didn’t move for three hours, hoping Estrada would think she was dead.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Marc St. Clair drove up shortly after Brown was shot. Estrada fired through a large window, striking St. Clair’s patrol vehicle.

Benito said Estrada had good cover inside the bank, hiding between the safe and the open safe door.

When Kerstin tried to stagger to his feet, Estrada had an employee identified only as Charlene walk him out for medical attention. After taking him out of the bank, she reportedly returned and went to her teller station.

All four employees spent most of the siege huddled under desks and counters. One, identified as Shari, said glass from Estrada’s gunshots fell around her desk, and she feared being hit by a bullet.

An employee identified as Lisa spent the time huddled in a secure ATM area, and was able to call police to give a description of the gunman, and relate some of what was going on.

Witnesses said Estrada fired off rounds every time the bank phone rang, or police outside used a bullhorn.

After Estrada had fired multiple shots out windows, Sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics deputies Jason Gassaway and Troy Clegg said they had a clear shot at the suspect through a broken window.

Estrada was hit in the chest by a shot fired from one of the men and dropped to the ground.

SWAT members then rushed the building and found Estrada still alive, apparently attempting to reach one of his guns. They pulled him away and he died in an ambulance headed for Redding.

Benito thanked officers for their skill and bravery, and said it was a miracle that no one but the gunman was killed in the incident.