The Missouri couple dubbed a real-life “Bonnie and Clyde” were tracked down to Florida Thursday before a car chase and shootout that left Blake Fitzgerald dead and Brittany Harper wounded, law enforcement officials said.
They were reportedly found in Pensacola, Florida, and are believed to have led law enforcement on a car chase from Escambia County to Santa Rosa County, where a reported shootout occurred and ended, according to ABC affiliate station WEAR-TV.
Harper has been taken to a hospital.
Fitzgerald and Harper, both in their 30s, faced charges after allegedly carrying out a bevy of armed robberies across the southeast over the past week. They allegedly robbed the Microtel Inn in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Sunday, briefly taking the hotel clerk hostage, police said.
From there, police say, they allegedly attempted to carjack the manager of a McDonald’s restaurant in Hoover, Alabama.
Investigators say the couple, fled to a nearby residence, allegedly taking the homeowner hostage, stealing her SUV and dropping her off at a hospital.
The SUV was discovered in Perry, Georgia, Monday night, police said.
Also, security footage appears to show the armed couple holding up an Express Mart and forcing the cashier into the same SUV, before dropping her off at a nearby exit.
The couple had taken to Facebook to seemingly mock police in recent days, despite pleas from their friends to turn themselves in. Harper apparently posted on Facebook, "I wasn’t planning on going for a run today but those cops came out of nowhere."
One of Harper's friends apparently wrote on Facebook, "I don’t want u to die … But I am afraid u are headed in that direction."
