The FBI tracked a man they think was one of the country’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to a North Carolina motel, where agents shot and killed him on Wednesday.
The armed suspect shot to death at a motel in the Raleigh suburb of Apex will be identified by state medical examiners but was believed to be 47-year-old Greg Alyn Carlson, the FBI’s North Carolina office said in a news release. Authorities said he was wanted in connection with multiple armed sexual assaults including a burglary and sexual assault in Los Angeles last fall.
An FBI spokeswoman did not respond to messages asking whether the man exchanged gunfire with agents. Apex Police Capt. Mitch McKinney said his officers were contacted after the FBI raid to secure the scene. He said he had no information about the shooting.
“Agents approached the room and tried to take Carlson into custody. Following an altercation over a gun, Carlson was shot to death by FBI agents,” Paul Delacourt, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in a press conference.
Carlson, who the agency said had been linked by DNA to sexual assaults dating back to 2003, had previously been tracked to South Carolina, Alabama and Florida, the FBI said.
Authorities say Carlson committed a burglary on July 13, 2017, during which he attempted to sexually assault a woman while using a weapon.
In September, he was charged with assault with intent to commit rape, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary, and he was arrested by Los Angeles police.
Carlson posted bond and was released, then fled to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The FBI said investigators believe he then left the state in a car with a stolen gun and a significant amount of cash.
He was spotted in Hoover, Alabama, on Nov. 22 and led police on a high-speed chase, but officers called off the pursuit because of danger to the public.
Carlson was then spotted in Florida, first in Jacksonville on Nov. 28 and in Daytona Beach two days after that.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.