Graham was shot dead in California.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A fugitive, Matthew Graham, who was considered armed and dangerous and wanted in the disappearance of his six-month old daughter was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies after carjacking someone in a neighboring county, in California, according to local media outlets.
The pursuit that led to Graham’s demise began early Monday when a vehicle was reported stolen from a home on Cottage Avenue in the City of Shasta Lake. Deputies at the scene confirmed the vehicle was taken by Graham at 6:32 a.m. The victims told local ABC affiliate KRCR Graham held them at gunpoint and forced them to start their car.
On Sunday, Graham was sighted at a gas station in Shasta Lake. The clerk operating the gas station recognized the man buying cigarettes and Powerade from her as the subject of the manhunt that was underway and called the police after he had left.
Because Graham was buying cigarettes, “he showed his ID, his name and everything,” attendant Amber Evans Evers, who did not serve Graham personally, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the situation “was kind of bizarre” because his face was all over the newspapers sold there.
Action News Now reported that Graham, who was jailed for a probation violation last week, failed to make contact with his probation officer prior to his disappearance.
Meanwhile, the search for Graham’s daughter continues, with search teams concentrating on the Ono area, about 15 miles southwest of Redding, where a pacifier that resembled one of Ember’s was found last week.
The search for Ember began after Graham called authorities to report his daughter missing. He said he woke up after 5 a.m. to find her gone from her playpen in his Happy Valley home.
Authorities said they have surveillance video of Graham taking the child to a convenience store the night of her disappearance, according to CBS affiliate KHSL. The station reported that Graham attested he took the baby to the store and then drove the short distance back to their home, but officials say the video shows him driving in the opposite direction of the home when he left the store, and heading back towards the home about an hour later.
That whole trip would have taken about eight minutes, sheriff’s officials said, and when they quizzed Graham about what he did during that hour, he told them he couldn’t remember.
“Matthew showed very little remorse for the disappearance of his daughter,” sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Kropholler said last week in a statement. “At no time during the eight-plus hours that he was with detectives did he ever inquire what was being done to find her.”
He then vanished after hearing that the search for his daughter had produced a possible lead, along with a semiautomatic gun that he took from his mother’s purse.
A warrant had been issued on Saturday for Graham’s arrest on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and violating his probation.