Three captured siblings wanted in a violent crime spree that began in Florida last week made their first court appearance in Colorado on Thursday, Fox 31 reported.
Lee Grace Dougherty, 29, Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, and Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, are being held in Pueblo County, Colo., on bonds of $1.25 million each. The three made their first court appearance Thursday in Pueblo, Colo., appearing by video from jail. None made any statement during the brief hearing.
They face charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault on a peace officer. The charges stem from allegations that they shot AK-47 rounds at four patrol cars in Colorado during a chase on Interstate 25 near the town of Walsenburg, Colo., on Wednesday. The chase ended when their Subaru rolled and crashed into a guardrail after a tire was punctured by stop strips troopers had deployed across the highway.
According to an arrest affidavit, Lee Dougherty ran from the crash and was shot in the leg by Walsenburg Police Chief James Chamblerlain after she pointed a "machine pistol" at him. The document says she later told police, "I deserved to get shot."
Investigators said that when they asked her about gunfire during the chase, Lee Dougherty said she thought authorities were firing at them. Authorities said they didn't fire at the fugitives' car and believe she might have mistaken the sound of the spiked stop sticks for gunshots.
"We weren't trying to hurt anyone; we just wanted them to get back. They were way back and we could barely see them," she said, according to the affidavit. Separate affidavits from the three don't include statements from the brothers.
The cross-country manhunt for the three siblings accused of shooting at a police officer in Florida and robbing a bank in Georgia ended Wednesday in southern Colorado. The trio was taken into custody after firing shots at police during a high-speed chase that ended with a crash on I-25.
The siblings reportedly bought camping gear and were hiding out in the nearby national forest.
They didn't stand out to some. Jaimie Clark, 18, an employee at the Colorado City gas station where the siblings were spotted before their arrest on Wednesday, said her co-worker who was working the cash register at the time didn't recognize the trio as fugitives, and they didn't strike her as suspicious.
"They just came in, grabbed a few snacks, got gas and left," Clark said. "She couldn't even recall what they got because they just came in like regular customers."
Clark said given what the siblings were accused of in other states, she and her co-workers are relieved that nothing happened at the gas station.
"The fact that they came in here peacefully, we're extremely thankful for," she said.
Their notoriety didn't go unnoticed by everyone after their images were splashed across television reports. Someone tipped Colorado state troopers and the sheriff's office at about 9 a.m. Wednesday that the suspects might be at a campground south of Colorado Springs.
A Pueblo County sheriff's detective spotted the car near an interstate highway Wednesday, followed it discreetly until state troopers joined him, and the chase was on.
AK-47 rounds were fired at the four patrol cars during the pursuit south on the interstate, where speeds exceeded 100 mph, said Lt. Col. Anthony Padilla of the Colorado State Patrol.
In Walsenburg, troopers deployed spiked stop strips across the interstate. A tire was punctured on the Subaru, sending it rolling and crashing into a guardrail.
Lee Dougherty was shot in the leg after she pointed a gun at a police officer near the car, authorities said, adding that she was trying to escape on foot. Another one of the suspects was apprehended after a brief foot chase.
The three suspects were treated at a Walsenburg hospital -- Lee Dougherty for the gunshot wound and her brothers for injuries suffered in the crash -- and were later transferred to Pueblo County Jail. They face four charges each of first-degree assault on a police officer. They also have no-bond warrants in Georgia and Florida. It wasn't immediately known when their first court appearance would be.
"These three have a big legal mess in front of them and at some point they'll face charges in all those jurisdictions," FBI Special Agent Phil Niedringhaus said.
No one could say why the three ended up in Colorado, though Niedringhaus offered his own idea.
"They were here because they were running," he said.
Other fugitives have chosen the Rocky Mountain wilderness for a hideout. Last month, police nabbed a convicted murderer from Florida, 60-year-old Mark Barrett, who was discovered living in a remote cabin in Montrose, Colo., after more than three decades on the run.
And last summer, a prison escapee from Arizona was captured in rural Rifle, Colo.
A Rocky Mountain escape made sense to a handful of locals gathered for pizza and beer at Viktorio's after the chase. Asked why they thought the fugitives fled here, some just pointed toward snowcapped peaks just to the west.
"It's as good a place as any to disappear, I guess," Garcia said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click here for more on the capture of the Dougherty siblings from Fox 31
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