A trucker faces numerous charges following his alleged involvement in a bank robbery and armed standoff with police in North Carolina last week.
A U.S. magistrate judge signed a complaint on Saturday, Dec. 27, charging suspect Willie Edward Mcgee, Jr. with bank robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
According to the complaint, on Friday, Dec. 26, Mcgee entered a First Citizens Bank in Zebulon about 24 miles east of Raleigh, and demanded that the bank teller give him money under the threat of exploding C-4. The teller gave Mcgee $3,234 in cash, and Mcgee, 42 of Rocky Mount, fled the bank, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office.
Officers responded to the bank and began investigating the robbery. Surveillance footage showed Mcgee leaving the scene of the robbery in a semi-truck, according to the U.S. Attorney.
Later that day, Rocky Mount Police located the semi-truck in a Hobby Lobby parking lot in Rocky Mount, the U.S. Attorney's statement said. Police officers were surveilling the semi-truck when Mcgee exited the semi armed with a Ruger AR 5.56 rifle. Mcgee began firing at the officers, who returned fire and struck Mcgee.
While taking Mcgee into custody, officers recovered the rifle he used to shoot at officers and a handgun from Mcgee’s waistband, according to the U.S. Attorney's statement.
As explained in the complaint, several items worn by or used by Mcgee during the robbery were later recovered from the semi-truck.
The federal complaint charges Mcgee with armed bank robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on the bank robbery charge and a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, on the discharging a firearm charge.
He also will be charged in Rocky Mount with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm and one count of discharging a weapon to incite fear, Rocky Mount police said.
Authorities continue their investigation.
The U.S. Attorney's office said a complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
