Police confirmed Saturday that the man who was the lone suspect in a string of bank robberies died in a car crash.
Officers were pursuing Thomas Lester Ketelsen on suspicion of two incidents of bank robbery in South Carolina at the time of the crash.
Ketelsen had reached North Carolina before Nash County police officers recognized his car and license plate traveling northbound on Interstate 95 just before 11 p.m. Friday. Officers were told the suspect was armed and dangerous.
TWO DEAD AND SIX OTHERS HOSPITALIZED AFTER CAR CRASHES INTO DC RESTAURANT PATIO
#chsnews #summervillesc pic.twitter.com/f3RFpcPw6G
— Summerville Police (@SPDSC) March 12, 2022
“The roads were wet, and there was a traffic median,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said in a press conference Saturday. “[The deputy] made a decision to force the vehicle to stop. The vehicle of the suspect went off the left shoulder of the road, traveled some distance down the road at that time he ended up against a tree and was partially ejected.”
A short time ago members of NCSO were involved in a short vehicle pursuit on I-95 near 132mm. As a result, the suspect vehicle wrecked in the wood line of the median. NCSO units and NCSHP and Fire Dept are on scene investigating the incident. Further info will be released later.
— Nash County Sheriff (@NashCountySO) March 12, 2022
The late suspect had a long criminal history tracing back to 1978, including crimes of larceny, theft, forgery, and armed robbery in Illinois and the Carolinas. He was on parole following a stint in federal prison at the time of the first robbery Thursday at South State Bank in Summerville, South Carolina. The next day, he robbed another bank in Camden, South Carolina.
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Police did not report the amount of money Ketelsen allegedly stole.
