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CRIME

FBI agent says bank robbery suspect confessed he would kill

Associated Press
Published | Updated

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A man who robbed a South Carolina bank knew he was going to kill someone that day because he was desperate for money, and he shot one employee as she tried to hide under a desk, an FBI agent said.

Brandon Council faces state and federal charges after he was arrested Wednesday in Greenville, North Carolina.

Council spent six nights at a motel in Conway just across the street from the Cres Com Bank branch before walking to the bank Monday, FBI agent Jeffrey Long said in a sworn statement filed in federal court Thursday.

Surveillance footage from the bank showed Council briefly talking to the teller before shooting her several times, then finding a second employee hiding under a desk and firing multiple shots at her, Long said.

"Council told agents he was desperate, he needed money and that he knew he was going to shoot someone," Long wrote.

Kathryn Davis Skeen, 36, and Donna Major, 59, were both killed. South Carolina prosecutors plan to charge Council with murder, armed robbery, being a felon in possession of a pistol and other counts, while federal prosecutors have charged him with armed bank robbery resulting in death and using a firearm in a crime of violence.

After killing the employees, Council took the keys from both their vehicles and their banks cards. He stole one vehicle, drove it to the motel, quickly loaded his luggage and left, Long said.

Council, 32, stole more than $15,000 in the Conway robbery.

Council was paroled earlier this month on charges of larceny greater than $1,000 and being a habitual felon, and eleven days after he was released, he robbed a bank in Wilson, North Carolina.

Council was arrested Wednesday in Greenville after a 911 caller saw him at a restaurant. He agreed to return to South Carolina during a Thursday afternoon hearing in federal court in North Carolina. Court records showed he did not have a lawyer.

After his arrest, Council told the agents that he deserved to die and he watched the movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" before going to the bank.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP . See his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeffrey%20collins