More than 8,000 violent fugitives have been arrested across the U.S. over a six-week period as part of a Justice Department special operation and investigators recovered 463 firearms, $390,360 in cash, and more than 71 kilograms of illegal narcotics.
The initiative, called Operation Violence Reduction 12, covered all 94 federal judicial districts with U.S. Marshals focusing on 12 areas, according to a
Justice Department statement. Those areas included Baltimore; Brooklyn, New York; Camden, New Jersey; Chicago; Compton, California; Fresno, California; Gary, Indiana; Milwaukee; New Orleans; Oakland, California; Savannah, Georgia; and Washington, D.C.
"Thanks to the strategic and focused efforts of the U.S. Marshals Service and their law enforcement partners, our nation's streets are now rid of over 500 accused murderers, 600 gang members and nearly 1,000 sex offenders," said deputy attorney general Sally Q. Yates.
"Fugitives initiated gun battles, forced barricaded standoffs, assaulted officers and did everything they could to evade arrest – but our deputy marshals, together with their law enforcement partners, stood firm and succeeded in capturing the bad guys."
Included in the arrests was Carl Cooper in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was wanted for the Feb. 22 shooting of Martha Gilliard, 90, and Hogan McGill, 82, in Baltimore, reported
WBAL-TV.
Authorities also counted the apprehension of Nicole Harper, who along with Blake Edwards Fitzgerald were dubbed the modern-day Bonnie and Clyde earlier this year during a multi-state crime spree, noted
NBC News.
Fitzgerald was killed in a shootout with police Feb. 5 in Pensacola, Florida while Harper was injured, noted NBC News. They faced multiple charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, burglary and firearms violations, said the Justice Department.