Inside the tragic final moments of a bank bomber who took 10 hostages during a terrifying standoff.

Law enforcement negotiated with the “bomb-tied” Bakersfield Chase Bank robber for hours before deciding to end the standoff with violence by “taking his head off.”

Anthony Scott Searles-Harris’ former lawyer, Arturo Revelo, detailed how law enforcement drove him “at 97 miles an hour” to help stop the tragic scene.

A 41-year-old suspect entered a bank in the city center and said he had a bomb. He locked himself and his captors inside. The witness said the suspect said “it was a bad day to be at the bank.”

Revelo said Searles-Harris asked to speak with him, and placed him in a hostage situation after law enforcement rushed to pick him up at his home in Tehachapi. The attorney was rushed to the scene in downtown Bakersfield and stayed at the police station for several hours, he said.

During that time, he tried several times to talk to Searles-Harris, but she refused. The lawyer said he believed Searles-Harris hated him and believed he was involved in the conspiracy that led to his conviction for sex crimes. The suspect believes that the evidence that would prove his innocence was not used in court, he said.

Searles-Harris, whom Revelo described as a “drug addict,” also asked to speak to one of his victims. The victim, now an adult and no longer the young girl who was found guilty of disorderly conduct, told her to turn herself in, according to Revelo.

He refused. Revelo said the box of legal defense documents Searles-Harris requested to exchange hostages was received, but he did not move forward with the agreement. The kidnappers, employees of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, stayed inside with the man.

Searles-Harris eventually abandoned the two hostages and negotiated with the police about food and water, but the negotiations ended at a standstill.

Revelo said that’s when the FBI intervened. He believed that his former client wanted the FBI to take over because he knew they were going to kill him. Law enforcement officials say that Searles-Harris may have targeted the bank because he knew there was a high chance that law enforcement would intervene.

In the end, Searles-Harris was right about the FBI. Revelo said the agency took over and deployed heavily armed police to quell the menace. This step was considered dangerous because Searles-Harris had told the hostages that he had a “dead man’s gun” that would go off if he died, setting the explosives on him and the other hostages.

But Revelo said the organization, which did not believe the bombs were real, was willing to take the risk. He said the agents entered the building and “rubbed his head” in front of the captors. The hostages were released unharmed.

“He had a problem, and yes, he was right,” he said. “The FBI was going to come in and kill him.”

In the dramatic robbery, Revelo believes his former client wanted to draw attention to his crime, take his own life, and “make a mark of his death.”

The defense attorney expressed great vitriol against the FBI, which he believed was too aggressive in ending Searles-Harris’ life. He called the FBI members there a “death squad.”

Revelo didn’t like his former client, but his death made him regret it and gave him nightmares.

“I have been looking at his ugly face many times as I go to sleep,” she said.

Law enforcement never allowed Revelo to talk to the suspect even though the lawyer had requested it. He’s not sure why they didn’t let him talk to Searles-Harris, who he thinks could have gotten him out of this situation alive.

“It was a complicated story there,” he said. “I could have taken him out, but they wouldn’t let me.”