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A Tennessee prison guard was charged Thursday with the murders of two postal workers last year during a robbery he attempted with his son.
Chastain Montgomery Sr. faces several charges surrounding the shooting deaths of government employees Judy Spray, 58, and Paula Robinson, 33, during a robbery last October 18. The killings took place in the famed, small, West Tennessee town of Henning, the birthplace of author Alex Haley. The post office is the only one in the town of about 1,200 residents.
According to court records, the 47-year-old father was aided and abetted by his son Chastain Montgomery, Jr. who was 18 at the time. The young man was killed in a police shootout after officers gave chase on February 14 and the elder Montgomery was jailed on charges related to the shootout. Afterward, federal authorities began investigating whether a gun used by the teenager was also linked to the post office shootings.
Apparently, the young teen exited a stolen pickup armed with two handguns and fired at officers several times before a deputy shot him dead. Montgomery Sr. was arrested when he went to the crime scene and tried to get into the stolen pickup truck his son had been driving.
He ran through crime scene tape, ignoring the shouted warnings of officers and headed straight for the truck, which was still running. Police arrested and slapped him with charges of evidence tampering, being an accessory, theft between $1,000 and $10,000 and resisting arrest.
Sources say that Montgomery confessed to the postal murders when he was arrested for charging onto the crime scene.
The charges Montgomery faced have now been bumped up to federal charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, using a firearm in a crime of violence, and two counts of unlawfully causing the death of a person.
Before Thursday, authorities were keeping mum about possible motives and the number of suspects who were involved in the crime. More than 100 investigators worked on the case and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service even offered a reward of $50,000 for information leading to a conviction.
If Montgomery is found guilty and is convicted of the postal shootings, he faces life in prison or the death penalty.
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