An employee at Western Union Bank was on the phone with a woman at the Turlock radio station when two armed men rushed into the bank and demanded money. The bank employee dropped the phone and left the line open, allowing the woman at the radio station to hear what was going on while she called the police. The first officers to arrive on scene saw a man exiting the office of the DeLuxe Motel, that was located on the same property of the bank, and believed he might have been a suspect. The officers stopped him at gun point and called for back-up. But the real suspects were inside the bank office. Ofc. Willert was the first back-up officer to arrive and took position, using the bank office as cover. As he cautiously approached the other officers, he passed directly in front of the bank office. As a suspect inside the bank saw Ofc. WIllert outside the bank office he fired a single shot at Ofc. Willert. The shot alerted the officers to the suspect’s location which lead to one suspect’s capture and the other in a vehicle chase that ended in Modesto’s Airport district. Ultimately, the suspect was finally caught in a warehouse in Modesto, along with the get-away driver and another suspect in the vehicle. Ofc. Willert was rushed to the hospital but died later that evening. Ofc. Willert was 25 years old, leaving behind a young wife and a 3 year old daughter.