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Police: Surviving shootout suspect could be transferred to Guilford County soon

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
(Updated 9:48 pm)

GREENSBORO — The surviving suspect in a Feb. 9 bank robbery and subsequent shootout with police could be transferred back to Guilford County in the coming weeks, a police official said Wednesday.

Christopher O’Neal Patterson, 23, has been in the hospital ward at Central Prison in Raleigh where he has been receiving treatment for gunshot wounds sustained in a gun battle with Greensboro police on Patterson Street.

Capt. Janice Rogers, head of the Greensboro Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, said Wednesday that detectives met last week with state and federal prosecutors to discuss Patterson’s case and pending charges.

Patterson was reported to be doing fine in his physical rehabilitation, and he could be moved to the Guilford County jail in Greensboro in the coming weeks, Rogers said.

Patterson and Dimarkchrisy Eddie Majors,22, are suspected of robbing the Wachovia bank branch on High Point Road about 5 p.m. Feb. 9.

A civilian, who was pistol-whipped in the robbery, managed to get away and called police with a description of the suspects, their getaway vehicle, and turn-by-turn directions of their location as he followed them.

Police said the suspects shot at officers during a pursuit before the suspects lost control and crashed near the entrance to Interstate 40 Business. Seven police officers were involved in a roadside shootout with the suspects. Both suspects were wounded; Majors died the next day.

Officer Matt O’Hal was struck by the suspects’ vehicle when it crashed and was shot twice in the gun battle, but expects to make a full recovery.

So far, Patterson has been charged at the state level with one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the bank robbery. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in late February on charges of armed bank robbery, bank robbery, discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Patterson and Majors also have been linked to the Jan. 26 robbery at the Lorillard Federal Credit Union on South Elm-Eugene Street in Greensboro; the Feb. 2 robbery at First Bank on North Main Street in High Point; and the carjacking of a black Ford Taurus hours before the Wachovia robbery.

On Wednesday, Burlington police learned that the casing from a bullet fired at a convenience store robbery there in January matched a .38 revolver recovered from the shootout with Greensboro police.

“There are going to be a lot of charges forthcoming,” Rogers said of last week’s meeting with prosecutors. “We are looking at federal and state stuff on him, and we are going to sort it out when he gets back here.”

Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction, would not comment on Patterson's medical status on Wednesday. He said Patterson did not have an attorney listed in the prison's database. No defense attorney is listed in federal court filings either.

Patterson is scheduled in Guilford County Superior Court on May 28 on the state’s armed robbery charge, but it is unclear whether he will attend.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com

 

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Photo Caption: Christopher Patterson  

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