TEXAS – In 2016, the FBI knew it was dealing with a different type of criminal. Two armored truck couriers were killed during robberies, and investigators determined both men were shot by a sniper.
“He was a serial killer, and it didn’t bother him,” said Asst. U.S. Attorney Rick Hanes.
March 18, 2016
Armored truck courier Melvin Moore was murdered while replenishing an ATM at a Chase bank on Airline Dr. Court documents read that Moore was shot before a car drove up and a man jumped out who then tried to grab the money.
“(Moore) shot his entire magazine back at the suspect before he eventually died,” said retired FBI agent Jeff Coughlin.
Moore’s actions prevented the robbers from getting any money. Surveillance video later helped investigators learn the shots that killed Moore came from a car wash across the street from the bank.
“When you look at the distance, you’re talking about a major thoroughfare within the city of Houston, you’re talking about two lanes of traffic on either side, split with a median at approximately 2:00 in the afternoon with traffic,” said Sgt. David Helms, a Houston Police Department robbery detective assigned to the FBI’s violent crime task force. “That’s not typical of what we come across in our day-to-day.”
Police believe the man shot by Moore eventually died in another state. The car used in the robbery was later found set on fire and did not provide any significant clues.
August 29, 2016
Armored truck courier David Guzman was murdered while replenishing an ATM at a Wells Fargo bank off the Northwest Freeway and Hollister. Investigators again learned the shots that killed Guzman were taken from a distance.
“I went out there to the scene, and I literally thought it was deja vu. I was looking at a street, and I remember the aerial shot from Airline, and basically, if I took Hollister and put it on top of Airline, I was looking at the same thing,” said Helms. “This was somebody that was targeting, hunting citizens of Houston.”
Surveillance video did give investigators a lead.
“What we found was that hours preceding the robbery murder, there was a white SUV. It was a Toyota 4Runner, which is a pretty distinct look,” said Coughlin.
“It pulls up to the corner parking lot right across from the ATM; stays there for a couple of hours. Nobody ever gets in, nobody ever gets out, and then it leaves after the guard is murdered and the robbery occurs,” said Coughlin.
Investigators said they later received a tip that a man called “Red” had talked about committing these types of robberies, and he drove a white SUV.
“From ‘Red,’ we were able to get a Redrick Batiste. We were able to identify some phone numbers that were associated with him, addresses, and other vehicles,” said Coughlin.
Helms said Batiste had a criminal record, but no record of military service. Helms and Coughlin initially thought Batiste received sniper training in the military, but then learned he was self-taught.
“We’ve now had them do this at least twice that we knew of at that point; they’ve killed two people. It was probably as escalated or as concerned as I’ve ever been,” said Coughlin. “We’ve got to stop this. We don’t just have to prove and figure out who’s doing this, but we’ve got to stop it.”
High-Risk Surveillance
Even though investigators had a name, they needed proof that Batiste and his crew were behind the murders. The FBI then enlisted help from HPD’s Northside Tactical Unit, which was led by Sgt. Chris Andersen.
“My new captain comes in, Larry Baimbridge, and he looks at the crime stats, and he looks at the amount of commercial business robberies; I mean, we’re leading the nation, we’re above L.A., New York, Chicago, Detroit; they’re tearing us apart,” said Andersen, now retired. “And he goes, rightfully so, ‘what are you doing about these robberies?’”
Andersen said Baimbridge tasked him with developing a way to surveil and dismantle these robbery crews.
“You look at the old way of doing just reactive, let’s see if we can put together a photo array if we think we know who did it, and nine times out of ten they’re wearing a mask,” said Larry Baimbridge, now chief of the Spring Branch ISD police department. “That just doesn’t work, and there is no DNA, there are no fingerprints. They wear masks or gloves, and they don’t leave any type of traditional evidence.”
Andersen said he then developed a ‘high-risk’ surveillance system where officers could identify a robbery crew and then follow those suspects into a crime.
“We don’t have enough evidence to arrest these guys in a reactive investigation or even know who they are. And so here we are, we’re following them into an actual robbery,” said Andersen.
The technique proved effective at dismantling several robbery crews working the northside of Houston and was used during the Batiste investigation.
Andersen’s unit was able to find the white Toyota 4Runner. Surveillance video showed a small hole cut in the back of the SUV next to the license plate. Investigators believe Batiste lay down in the back of the SUV and used the hole to shoot Moore and Guzman from a concealed position.
Andersen, Batiste, Helms, and several other investigators then spent months conducting around-the-clock surveillance on Batiste and several other suspects who were believed to be part of his crew.
“We knew we were dealing with a serial killer and that it was going to require that level of interest and effort to take him down properly,” said Asst. U.S. Attorney Heather Winter.
“Why do you use the term serial killer?” asked 2 Investigates Robert Arnold.
“Because it was his intention,” said Hanes. “First part, commit murder. Second part, grab the money.”
A New Car and a Key Fob
Wiretaps gave investigators the chance to hear Batiste and his crew planning another robbery. The crew would refer to armored trucks as the ‘commissary’ or the ‘Bentley.’ Money was referred to as ‘cashews’ or ‘peanuts.’
Coughlin also said he heard Batiste talking about a “problem” he was having with a small metal tube. The problem became clear when Batiste showed up driving a rented Jeep Wrangler.
Before renting the Wrangler, Batiste and his crew appeared to zero in on their next target at an Amegy Bank in north Houston. Initially, investigators believed Batiste would use the 4Runner for the upcoming robbery since he used the vehicle in the two other robberies and murders.
However, when it became clear Batiste would use the Wrangler as his vehicle during the robbery, investigators had to develop a new plan. Coughlin said around this time, it dawned on him the “problem” Batiste was referring to involved the two key fobs that came with the Wrangler.
“I realize that every time you rent a car, when they give you your keys, a lot of times they give you two sets of keys, and they’re usually held together by a piece of cable, and then a small piece of stainless steel tubing that makes it difficult to break that cable apart,” said Coughlin. “I hypothesize that he’s going to take this rental car that he has, and he’s got the keys, he’s going to break apart this stainless steel tubing, take a key off, and replace it with a dummy key that looks just like the normal key fob for that car, and then put it all back together. Now he’s got a set of car keys to go get this vehicle.”
Investigators then watched as the Wrangler was returned to the rental car company. An undercover FBI agent then went inside the business and rented the same Wrangler.
The FBI then sent a specialized team from Washington, D.C. to Houston to outfit the Wrangler with a hidden camera and microphone. Coughlin said their suspicion that Batiste would steal the Wrangler was confirmed when they found he installed a tracking device on the vehicle.
Investigators took the Wrangler to Ellington Air Base to ensure Batiste couldn’t follow them and worked through the night to install the camera and microphone. The Wrangler was then parked at a hotel near Hobby Airport.
Surveillance video shows Batiste walking up to the Wrangler and using the stolen fob to open the door and drive off.
“First thing he does after he steals it is he takes it, and he gets the windows tinted with reflective tinting. Then he gets a piece of mylar, and he cuts it to the size of the window and kind of puts it in there so that he can roll down the window, and the mylar piece will still be up,” said Hanes.
Prior to this, Batiste took the 4Runner to a mechanic shop in northwest Houston and had the hole in the back of the vehicle repaired. Investigators surmised Batiste was now going to use the Wrangler to shoot the guards during the next robbery.
“He’s using the mylar so that he doesn’t have the glass shatter in the blowback, he’s going to shoot through this mylar clean across the bayou to the ATM where the armored car is replenishing the money,” said Winter.
December 7, 2016
Investigators were ready as Batiste and his crew headed to the Amegy Bank to carry out the robbery. Coughlin, Helms and Andersen said the plan was to have SWAT officers in an armored car posing as couriers, with more SWAT officers in a different armored car staged near what would be the robbers’ “pick-up” vehicle.
Andersen said officers in one armored truck would pull up to the ATM, but not get out. Then, officers in the other armored truck would ram the “pick-up” vehicle. Several more officers would then surround Batiste’s vehicle.
The hidden camera inside the Wrangler shows Batiste preparing to shoot what he believes are armored truck couriers pulling up to service the ATM, before spotting the second armored truck ramming the SUV driven by his crew.
As several officers surround Batiste, he jumps out and opens fire. Officers return fire, hitting Batiste. He was rushed to Ben Taub Hospital.
“We put a patrol officer with him, and they transported him,” said Andersen. “About halfway down there, Redrick Batiste, according to the officer, said, ‘So this is what it feels like to die,’ and then he died.”
Four members of Batiste’s crew were arrested, and no one else was hurt. Three of the men received life sentences in federal prison, while a fourth man received a 12 and-a-half year sentence after pleading guilty and agreeing to testify against the other men.
“That’s why we do the job,” said Coughlin. “It’s not so we can put people in jail for a long time. It’s to get justice for victims who sometimes don’t have a voice.”
This article is a brief synopsis of this case. For more details, as well as how this investigation also helped solve the murder of a Houston pastor, watch The Evidence Room documentary, ‘The Sniper.’
Andersen wrote a book also titled “The Sniper,” which chronicles this investigation.