LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An 18-year-old Kentucky man who led police on a high-speed chase Thursday night has been charged by federal investigators in a bank robbery that left two people dead.
Brailen Weaver is charged with armed bank robbery and firearms offenses that caused death, according to federal court records.
Weaver entered a branch of U.S. Bank in Berea on Thursday, just before 2 p.m. and "immediately shot and killed a male victim" and then fatally shot a teller, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court Friday. He checked multiple drawers in the bank and then fled, the affidavit said. Investigators have not said if any money was taken from the bank.
"While there is no longer imminent danger, we understand that the tragedy is far from over for the community," said Olivia Olson, special agent in charge of the Louisville FBI office, at a news conference Friday. "The only solace that we can offer is that this individual, who valued a stolen dollar more than two human lives, will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Friday he would pursue state murder charges against Weaver. Court records say Weaver is 18, and officials said Friday that he lived somewhere in Kentucky.
Authorities identified a silver BMW sedan on surveillance video and matched it to a car for sale by Weaver on Facebook, the affidavit said. Investigators were also able to match clothing on the suspect to photos of Weaver on social media. Investigators said Weaver continued to post on social media after the robbery.
The FBI located Weaver's car on I-75, and he was pursued at speeds over 100 mph Thursday night. He exited the highway into Lexington, where he exceeded speeds of 130 mph before crashing the car and fleeing on foot, the affidavit said.
Kentucky State Police officer Justin Kearney said in a social media post Friday that a "person of interest believed to be involved in yesterday's Berea bank robbery has been apprehended."
The affidavit was written before he was captured so it makes no mention of an arrest.
Rawl Kazee, a Lexington attorney identified in court records as representation for Weaver, did not immediately return a phone message later Friday morning.
Jason Parman, first assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern half of Kentucky, said in his 18 years as a prosecutor he could not recall a death related to a bank robbery. Parman said it's not uncommon for a bank robber to be armed and to threaten violence, but deaths are uncommon in his experience.
Bank robberies nationally have declined from 5,546 in 2010 to 1,263 in 2023, a decrease of 77%, according to the FBI's annual Bank Crime Statistics report. There were no deaths associated with bank robberies in 2022 and 2023, the most recent year available for the data.
Tom Myers, a crime historian and retired FBI agent, said the drop in bank robberies is due to experienced criminals opting to move on to easier crimes that don't come with the risk of a lengthy federal prison sentence. Bank security technology has also evolved rapidly, he said, and tiny, powerful tracking devices can make it easier to find stolen money bundles once a robber has left the bank.
Information for this article was contributed by Rebecca Boone of The Associated Press.