'Bonnie and Clyde' Crime Spree Ends With Man's Death
The romance of the "real-life Bonnie and Clyde" (or the latest couple given this moniker) -- reached what might be called its inevitable end yesterday. Blake Fitzgerald was killed in a shootout with police in Florida, according to ABC News, after a wild week-long crime spree with his partner Brittany Harper.
Fitzgerald and Harper fought officers to the end. Now she is in a hospital and will face numerous criminal charges and he is gone forever. They were supposedly planning to get married and start a new life in Florida. Both were reportedly in their thirties.
The Last Scene
The couple had been spooking people all over the southeast in a slew of armed robberies. Police in Escambia County yesterday described chasing and catching up to the couple, who had been boasting about their flight from authorities on Facebook.
Florida police report that they spotted the couple on Thursday and tied to them an armed robbery at a famous Footwear store in Pensacola. But Harper and Fitzgerald managed to flee the scene and elude police. They were found again but got away by ditching their stolen vehicle and fleeing on foot.
A few hours later, police got a call from a couple at home who said they had been held by Fitzgerald and Harper briefly. The fugitives left them unharmed but took off with the resident's red truck, which police were able to locate.
Authorities say that when they spotted the truck, a shootout ensued, leaving the man, Fitzgerald, dead. His partner in crime, Elizabeth Harper, is in the hospital and is said to have an injured ankle and leg.
The Spree
As criminal couples go, Fitzgerald and Harper were relatively gentle. Although they were definitely armed and did rob numerous gas stations, motels, and shops on their wild road trip, they did also drop one victim off at a hospital after stealing her car. Video footage of them after a gas station robbery shows them dropping off the clerk at a nearby exit.
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