Both saw the end coming, one of those residents says.
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Blake Edward Fitzgerald, 30, and his girlfriend, Brittany Nicole Harper, 30, are wanted on charges of kidnapping, burglary and theft, and are believed to have most recently committed crimes in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Their alleged cross-county crime spree started two weeks ago, on January 22nd, when a home in Joplin, Missouri, was robbed and guns were stolen.
The pair were characterized by media and law enforcement as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, after the infamous Depression-era outlaws. The couple is also suspected in two Florida robberies in Walnut Hill and Destin on Wednesday, U.S. Marshals spokesman Martin Keely said.
The search for a couple referred to as the “Missouri Bonnie and Clyde” ended early Friday, when Blake Fitzgerald died and Brittany Nicole Harper was wounded in a shootout with police in Florida’s Panhandle.
The vehicle was found abandoned Thursday night in a Pensacola neighborhood.
After some tense moments, everyone settled down, Ian Gunnell told WIAT. Mary Counts, one of the employees there said, “You know we’ve all been pretty shaken up from it. I’ve definitely been watching my surroundings – yesterday and today”. “They were on the run, in trouble, needed somewhere to stay right now”. Officers were able to spot that truck leading to a shootout that left Fitzgerald dead at the scene and Harper injured.
The suspects fled in a auto but police “lost sight of the suspect vehicle”, Morgan said.
The extent of her injuries was unclear, but State Attorney Bill Eddins said today he believed they involved her ankle and leg. Six of his deputies are on administrative leave after the shooting while an investigation is being conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Harper was taken to a local hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. It would have been worse if it happened earlier in the day because there would have a lot of traffic, he said.
The clerk, Kyle Dease, told NBC News that Fitzgerald thought that Dease had called the cops, so he made a decision to take him with them. They allegedly robbed the Microtel Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Sunday, briefly taking the hotel clerk hostage, police said. The couple was said by police to be attempting to break into an occupied house just south of Milton, Fl. Harper was wounded, Fitzgerald was killed by police gunfire. The couple drives about 15 miles before releasing the clerk unharmed, Perry police Lt. Ken Ezell said.
The clerk told Al.com that he was with the couple for about two hours, driving with them from Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama. Fitzgerald was killed and Harper was hit in the leg and foot. The woman was later released unharmed in Birmingham, Ala.
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On Friday, Morgan said he didn’t want to glamorize the couple as a Bonnie and Clyde.
