Violent Lee County crime spree ends with man shot in neck, truck crash

Author: Alec Schreck and Matt Dougherty
Published: Updated:

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla – The manhunt for a violent convicted criminal ended Friday with a crash on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Fort Myers.

George Campbell, 50, began his morning by shooting a man inside of a mobile home in North Fort Myers, according to Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

A witness tells WINK News Campbell, also known as “Tank,” walked into the mobile home demanding cash from a man having sex with a woman in a bathroom.

The men exchanged words and Campbell left and walked out to his car, another witness said.

“When he walked in the bathroom his exact words were, ‘I want my money where the f*** is my money,’” resident Theresa Conine said. “The next thing I know, the dude said something to him. [Campbell] walked out the door then walked back inside with a gun in his hand. I said, ‘Please, Tank, not in the house.’ The next thing I know, ‘boom.'”

Campbell left the home and began searching for a get-away car, deputies said. He walked to the nearby Artic Air air-conditioning shop where the manager was opening the business for the day.

The manager said Campbell held him up with a silver revolver that “looked like something from a ‘Dirty Harry’ movie.” Campbell took off with the manager’s truck.

Deputies report that Campbell then went searching for drugs in the truck.

At the same time, a manhunt ensued, as deputies searched for Campbell and Conine called for emergency crews to help the man who had been shot in the neck.

“[The victim] walked out here and I asked him, ‘What’re you doing,’” Conine said. “He said, ‘I need to change my shirt.’ I said, ‘You’ve got a hole in your neck and you’re worried about your shirt?’”

Campbell serendipitously flagged down an unmarked patrol car during his drug run, which was already looking for him, according to deputies.

The deputy tried to stop Campbell but he took off.

The chase ultimately ended in the crash in Fort Myers.

Campbell is charged with two counts of robbery with a firearm, carjacking with firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, driving with a suspended license, eluding police with a disregard to public safety, reckless driving and violating probation.

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