Fitzgerald and Harper are suspected in a series of robberies and kidnappings in Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Florida in the past week.
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“Thankfully, no innocent member of the public has been physically harmed by this modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, but the couple is armed and unsafe, and has a history of violent crimes and a string of new charges”, U.S. Marshal Martin Keely of the Northern District of Alabama said in a statement released earlier this week.
Harper is being charged with home invasion robbery, false imprisonment, and grand theft auto by William Eddins, the state attorney for the First Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
Authorities have revealed a shocking twist to the end of so-called “Bonnie and Clyde” crime-spree across several Southern States Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
“We continue to pray for all the families affected by this crime spree, but also pray for the suspects and their families as they have now lost a father and son, and also for the heart of the injured suspect that she may find peace.”
“Continually said that they were never going to hurt him, they kept reassuring him that, and we all kind of wondered, ‘Was the gun even loaded that he had?’ So just hearing the way they went out, he did use it, that’s scary”, she said.
The U.S. Marshals had offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to their arrest.
Harper suffered injuries in her leg and ankle and was taken to a hospital.
And amid the violence, a gun-toting Blake Edward Fitzgerald used his girlfriend as a shield from the hail of bullets, authorities revealed.
During the press conference, Morgan said he would not specify if the “shooting” was a “shoot-out” where the suspects fired shots as well. The couple then ended up in Alabama on Sunday morning where police say they kidnapped a Tuscaloosa motel clerk, tried to carjack a Hoover McDonald’s employee with the Tuscaloosa victim still in the vehicle, and then abducted a Vestavia Hills wife and mother before setting her free a short time later.
Morgan says that he knows of no ties Fitzgerald and Harper had to the Pensacola area. The woman was released unharmed a few miles away from the home.
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies were the only one to fire their weapons during the incident Friday, Morgan said.
“They fell off the grid for a couple of hours”, Morgan said, but the suspects’ vehicle was spotted again by police at 10:16 p.m., which led to a chase.
Two hours after that, a couple called 911 to report that Fitzgerald and Harper held them hostage before stealing their truck. Police Cpl. Chuck Niess says police had hoped to speak with them about the robbery, but “they obviously left the area”.
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They referred to the couple as a modern-day “Bonnie & Clyde”, although Fitzgerald and Harper had robbed no banks and had not shot anyone. Morgan says six are on administrative leave pending a standard investigation.
