ShareThisSTUART, Fla. - Kevin Cyr said he and his girlfriend, Sarah Gauvin, talked about what they wanted to happen should they be caught by police.
The couple -- thought to be involved in at least seven bank robberies across the country -- "wanted to go out like 'Bonnie and Clyde'" or "suicide by cop."
Gauvin, 30, was shot Dec. 16 by Lt. Kenneth Pickering of the Martin County Sheriff's office after investigators say she and Cyr robbed a Chase Bank here and fled in a Ford Mustang before Cyr pointed a weapon at law enforcement officials. Gauvin died after taking a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the head, while Cyr, who also was shot, survived and was arrested.
Listed as residents of Massachusetts, the two are suspected in bank robberies as far away as Oregon and Idaho.
A detailed account of events surrounding the Stuart robbery and subsequent shooting emerged in more than 160 pages of records released this week by Stuart police. The documents give the first public accounting from Cyr, 36, about the couple's activities before the Stuart robbery. Cyr spoke to an FBI special agent and local investigators the day after the incident. Much of the interview account is redacted, but Cyr said he has known Gauvin for years, though they had "been together" for only three months.
At one point, Cyr said they drove to Massachusetts to visit his sister and borrowed $1,000. They traveled down Interstate 95 to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and then to Flagstaff, Ariz.
After getting a pound of marijuana in Flagstaff, the couple traveled toward Florida. At a Wal-Mart in Texas, Cyr bought a BB pistol for $35. The BB gun would be used in the Stuart bank robbery.
Cyr told the FBI agent "he had discussed with Gauvin that if they were to get caught by the police, that they wanted to go out like, 'Bonnie and Clyde.'" Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died after being shot in 1934 in Louisiana by authorities after an exceptionally violent and wide-ranging crime spree.
The day of the Stuart robbery, Cyr said, they were northbound on I-95 "absolutely broke and hungry." Stuart police say they robbed the Chase bank around 1:45 p.m.
A lead teller said the woman handed her a note stating "this is a robbery" and that the man with her had a gun. The teller said she saw a pistol in the man's waistband. She handed over about $1,000, including a "dye pack," and said she activated a silent alarm when the two left.
A 36-year-old man detailing a vehicle behind the bank said he saw a man and a woman get in a Mustang. He memorized the tag and wrote it down.
Law enforcement officials quickly got behind the Mustang, which proceeded north on U.S. 1. The Mustang, driven by Cyr, crossed paths with Stuart Police Chief Edward Morley and Assistant Chief David Dyess. Cyr is accused of pointing a gun at both.
Their Mustang drove over "spike strips" on Kanner Highway and Pickering said the vehicle started to spin, hit a tree and crashed into his Chevrolet Trailblazer. Pickering said he saw several Stuart police vehicles behind the Mustang. He said he saw "the suspect raise his hand with a gun in it."
Officials believe Pickering fired four times from inside the Trailblazer. The 12-gauge shotgun appears to have shattered his vehicle's driver's side window, which had been rolled up. Pickering said he fired "to defend the officers."
Cyr said he "felt gun shots hitting him" after his vehicle hit "something hard." He looked over and saw Gauvin motionless. He leaned forward to avoid getting hit by additional gunfire. Gauvin died of a shotgun wound to the head.
A Martin grand jury earlier this month indicted Cyr on charges of second-degree felony murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, high-speed fleeing and two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon.
(Will Greenlee writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal.
