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The lives of two bank robbery suspects involved in a high-speed chase and gunfight with police Monday reveal a history of increasingly violent crimes.

Dimarkchrisy Eddie Majors, 22, died early Tuesday at Moses Cone Hospital. Information about the condition of Christopher O’Neal Patterson, 23, was unavailable from the hospital or police Wednesday.

The men are suspected in three recent violent armed robberies at local banks and are likely to be connected to several more crimes in coming days as detectives are able to review open cases, according to police.

Police say their most recent crime involved Monday’s robbery of the Wachovia at 3608 High Point Road.

Police say the two men led them on a chase after the robbery that ended in a shootout when their vehicle wrecked on Patterson Street. One police officer, Matt O’Hal, was hit by the suspects’ car and shot but is expected to recover.

Based on witness accounts and security video, the two men are believed to have worked together in most of the cases police are reviewing, said Capt. Janice Rogers, commander of the police criminal investigation unit. The men have criminal conviction records going back to when each was a teenager.

Two months after Patterson’s 16th birthday, in October 2001, he was accused of starting a fire on Dudley High School property. He had been a 9th grader there the previous year, but was not enrolled for the 2001-02 school year, according to Guilford County Schools.

The next January, he broke into the school and took $30 worth of candy and soft drinks and a DVD player. Patterson was found guilty of the thefts and burning in June 2002.

In 2002, he was charged with dozens of larcenies and breaking-and-entering charges in connection with the theft of 50 car keys from a car dealership and a series of home burglaries, taking electronics, video games and stereo equipment. He was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon.

From May 2003 to June 2006, Patterson was in prison for those convictions after his probation was revoked, according to Department of Correction records.

Shortly after his release, Patterson robbed Higgins Curb Market, taking $2,500. A couple of weeks later, he robbed someone at gunpoint and made off with $6 worth of beer. He pleaded guilty to common law robbery on April 17, 2007, and was in prison again from May 2007 until last July.

The other robbery suspect, Majors, was released July 1 from Caswell Correctional Center after serving four years for a 2004 statutory rape conviction.

In 2003, Majors was accused of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon in Wake County and several charges in Guilford County connected to stolen and forged checks. In 2004, he was charged with possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine.

Majors had been involved with the Violent Crimes Task Force since his release from prison, police said.

The task force offers those who have committed crimes job training and rehab, while threatening harsher punishment for future infractions in an effort to keep them from returning to crime.

Majors’ mother, Daisy Majors, said her son had not received any help from police.

Staff writer Jennifer Fernandez contributed to this report.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com