WOODLAND HILLS, CA — The officers didn’t know it at the time, but the suspected car thief who opened fire on them this month in Woodland Hills, was none other than the serial bank robber known as the Shaggy Bandit.

Officers shot and killed Daniel Carver, a 29-year-old parolee, April 9 after attempting to stop what they thought was a stolen car, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He turned out to be the “shaggy bandit” responsible for a series of holdups in San Fernando Valley, police said Thursday.

According to police, the detectives wondered why an apparent car-theft suspect would take such dire and extreme measures to shoot at police officers.
“The answer came in Carver’s criminal history and consciousness of guilt,” Capt. Paul Vernon
said. “While the officers couldn’t know Carver was a career criminal and active serial robber, Carver knew that, and he didn’t want to get caught. On parole for robbery and with two strikes, he could go back to prison for a long time. No doubt, this man was on the prowl the morning of April 9 to pull another armed robbery. In fact, he was first noticed that morning by an observant officer in the parking lot of a Home Depot,” Vernon added. “Piecing together Carver’s recent criminal activities, while free on parole, gives us a rare glimpse into how the tentacles of a single career criminal can touch the lives of so many people: from the clerks at the post office and Game Stop, to the owners of the stolen car and gun, to the victims of burglaries he was under investigation for in two other jurisdictions, and most prominently, to the two young police officers he tried to kill, one who was shot during the armed confrontation.”

One officer was treated at a hospital for a leg wound, and the other for scrapes and bruises, LAPD Capt. Patricia Sandoval said after the shooting.

A weapon was recovered at the scene, Sandoval said.

SubscribeThe two Topanga Station officers were in a patrol car in the area when they began chasing Carver, who was driving an SUV, after they received a “LoJack hit” that indicated the vehicle had been reported stolen, Sandoval said.

They chased the SUV for about seven minutes, and Carver got out of the vehicle and ran off, followed by the officers on foot, Sandoval said.

The shooting occurred about two to five minutes into the foot chase, Sandoval said.

It was unclear if both officers fired, she said.

A day after he was killed, Carver, described in an LAPD news release as “a twice-convicted felon,” was linked by detectives to a series of armed robberies, police said.

His DMV photo matched descriptions of the Shaggy Bandit, so named because he was seen on surveillance video sporting a moustache and beard, according to the LAPD.

“A witness picked out his photo from among five other similar photos,” Vernon, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Topanga Station, said.

The coroner’s office had no place of residence listed for Carver.