JOPLIN, Missouri – The Missouri fugitive shot and killed by authorities in Pensacola, Florida, Friday, ending a two-week manhunt, had a long record of criminal activity in his hometown before fleeing with his girlfriend.

Dubbed a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde by a federal marshal, Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper, both 30, started a multi-state crime spree on Jan. 26 with the theft of a 2009 Cadillac STS sports car from a Joplin area used car dealer.

Joplin was once the hideout for the real Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, the Depression Era outlaws who narrowly escaped from the southwest Missouri city in an April, 1933, shootout with police.

Authorities said Fitzgerald and Harper stole vehicles and committed robberies and abductions in Alabama and Georgia before being caught after the holdup of a Famous Footwear store in Pensacola. Police said Harper shopped for shoes and socks while Fitzgerald held a gun on the store clerk.

Fitzgerald was shot to death by sheriff’s deputies outside a Pensacola home when he refused to exit a stolen truck and then attempted to enter a home, using Harper as a shield. She suffered ankle and leg wounds from the gunfire and was taken to a nearby hospital.

But 10 days before splitting from Joplin, Fitzgerald stole a large sum of money from his stepfather, according to Dr. Douglas Richards, a close friend of the stepfather.

Richards, an emergency room doctor, said he was also a victim. He suspected Fitzgerald was the person who burglarized his home a week later, taking $500, televisions and guns.

Fitzgerald had once worked for Richards doing outdoor chores at two ranches he owned. The job didn’t last long because Richards said Fitzgerlad would “do things I told him not to do and not do what I asked him to do.”

Police records show Fitzgerald, a high school dropout, was accused of a rape that wasn’t prosecuted in January of 2013; burglarizing a female acquaintance’s home in April of 2013; burglarizing a neighbor’s place in August of 2013, and stealing rare coins worth $5,000 from an antique store in December of 2014.

He was prosecuted for coin theft and sentenced to prison for several months.

Authorities said Fitzgerald had a series of girlfriends before hooking up with Harper. He fathered three children – ages 7, 4 and 3 months – and was living with the mother of the youngest until recently.

Harper, in contrast, had few brushes with the police in Joplin. Court records show she went through a divorce, had a drunken driving conviction and was cited for shoplifting two years ago.

She was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola for treatment of her gun wounds. She was charged with robbery, two counts of kidnapping and false imprisonment, vehicle theft and home invasion robbery. Her bond was set at $1.16 million.

Authorities said she would be moved to the county jail as soon as she is able to leave the hospital.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told a news conference the armed standoff with Fitzgerald and Harper outside the Pensacola home lasted only about 15 minutes around 1 a.m. Friday. He said they refused to surrender and exit a stolen truck parked in the driveway of the home. Deputies fired at the couple when they headed for the home.

Morgan offered few details about the shooting, though he did say that Fitzgerald used Harper as a shield when they left the vehicle.  The sheriff said a routine investigation of the standoff would be conducted but early indications were the shooting death of Fitzgerald and the wounding of Harper were justified.

The sheriff objected to the description of the couple as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. He said such characterizations glamorize serious crime and tend to influence copycats. “There is nothing glamorous about death. There is nothing glamorous about taking hostages.”

And, added the sheriff, “let’s remember Bonnie and Clyde were a couple of thugs.”

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed by Texas authorities on a rural road in Louisiana in May of 1934.   

Details for this story were provided by the Joplin, Missouri, Globe.