The events of the shooting and arrest were described below by Florida State Attorney Bill Eddins and Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan during a press briefing in Pensacola on Friday. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies begin chasing the couple on at path that leads to Pensacola Beach and roads in and around Pensacola, including a couple of brief stints on Interstate 10.
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Blake Fitzgerald, 30, was shot and killed by police and his girlfriend, Brittany Nicole Harper, 30, was taken to a local hospital after being wounded.
As bullets spun through the air, Fitzgerald tried using Harper as a “human shield”, but was nevertheless shot and pronounced dead at the scene.
The crime spree of the so-called modern day “Bonnie and Clyde” came to a violent end early Friday morning.
On Wednesday, the couple is suspected in two additional robberies in the Florida panhandle – in Walnut Hill, Florida; and in Destin, Florida, U.S. Marshal Martin Keely says in a statement.
Authorities linked the couple to a series of crimes in Alabama and Georgia, saying the offenses fit a similar pattern: People are robbed, kidnapped and let go unharmed, usually after a vehicle is stolen. The woman was released unharmed a few miles away from the home.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said the criminals attempted to run inside one of the homes, but never made it due to a shootout that left Blake dead.
The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed the search, which has been ongoing for more than an hour near the Pensacola International Airport. He added that six deputies are on administrative leave pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation.
“I’m afraid if the cops corner them, they’re going to go out shooting because he definitely doesn’t want to go back to prison”, Dease said.
The young couple from Missouri were accused of committing multiple kidnappings and robberies over the course of several months in four different states.
Allegedly, the couple’s final act before the police gave chase was robbing a shoe store at gunpoint on Thursday night in Pensacola.
Morgan said Fitzgerald and Harper broke into a home two hours later and held a family hostage for about two hours.
The clerk, Kyle Dease, told Al.com they told him they hoped to make it to Florida to get married and start a new life together.
Authorities believe Fitzgerald then entered a home while the family was present, displayed a handgun and stole the family’s Ford Edge in Vestavia Hills, forcing the wife to go with him in the stolen vehicle against her will.
“That only encourages people to be copycats”, Morgan said.
Fitzgerald also was sentenced into a coincident 120-day period in a drunken driving case.
Vestavia Hills police obtained warrants for Fitzgerald and Harper on Sunday, Jan. 31.
Fitzgerald and Harper refused to surrender, Morgan said, leading to an armed standoff that lasted about 15 minutes.
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Sheriff Morgan says Harper is under armed guard at a hospital.
