Federal authorities on Sunday said they have charged a man who police officers said robbed a bank in Zebulon and later shot at them in Rocky Mount days earlier.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, a federal judge charged Willie Edward McGee Jr. with bank robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
McGee was charged on Saturday after police say he gave a written note to an employee at the First Citizens Bank on Wakelon Street in Zebulon on Friday that said he had an explosive device in his semitruck. Federal prosecutors said McGee left the bank with $3,234 in cash.
After police tracked his truck to a Hobby Lobby parking lot on Sutters Creek Boulevard in Rocky Mount. Zebulon police officers contacted Rocky Mount authorities to assist them. According to federal prosecutors, McGee then got out of the truck around with a Ruger AR 5.56 rifle and began shooting at the officers.
“As alleged, this defendant didn’t just rob a bank, he threated innocent civilians with explosives and then opened fire on police officers,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “That is not desperation, that is domestic terror.”
Federal prosecutors said the officers then shot back, hitting McGee. As they took McGee into custody, authorities found a handgun in his waistband McGee is currently in the hospital in “stable” condition.
No police officers or people near the shooting were injured during McGee’s arrest. Rocky Mount police said McGee was already facing charges for robbery, attempted murder and assault on law enforcement officers when he is released.
The State Bureau of Investigation didn’t find any explosives in the truck when they searched it.
If convicted, prosecutors said McGee is facing up to 30 years in prison on the federal charges.
