PENSACOLA, Fla. — 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.
Blake Fitzgerald used his supposed girlfriend Brittany Nicole Harper as a human shield during the shootout with sheriff’s deputies outside a home in Milton, according to Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.
Despite being used as a shield, Harper survived the engagement with gunshot wounds to her leg and ankle and appears in a police mug shot from a hospital bed. Fitzgerald was killed after the couple’s crime spree in Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
Morgan believed the two were planning to get married in their trip to Pensacola — during their run of crime in the area.
The Missouri couple was nicknamed “Bonnie and Clyde” for their series of robberies and abductions across the South. Police said the offenses fit a similar pattern: People are robbed, kidnapped and let go unharmed, usually after a vehicle is stolen.
On Thursday night, officers spotted the couple near Pensacola Beach, before they headed east, eventually ending up on Interstate 10 before cutting back toward Pensacola. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says the couple held a family hostage in their Pensacola home before fleeing in the family truck.
Deputies spotted Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Nicole Harper in the truck, and they went into a neighborhood and had a 15-minute standoff with authorities. Morgan says officers engaged in gunfire with the couple as they tried to leave the truck and enter a home.
Morgan says that he knows of no ties Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Nicole Harper had to the Pensacola area.
Harper faces multiple charges including home invasion, robbery, false imprisonment and grand theft auto. She was being held on a $1.16 million bond Saturday at the Escambia County Jail.
Her mug shot appears to show her in a hospital bed and gown.— The Associated Press contributed to this report