The former chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has died after being injured during an “agent-involved shooting” with the FBI around Knoxville, Tennessee, on Monday, according to the man’s lawyer.
Roy McGrath had been on the run for nearly three weeks after skipping the first day of his federal trial on March 13, for allegedly stealing more than $275,000 while working for a state agency.
“The FBI has confirmed that Roy succumbed to the injuries inflicted earlier this evening,” McGrath’s lawyer, Joseph Murtha, told ABC News in a brief statement. “It is a tragic ending to the past three weeks of uncertainty.”
Murtha added that it “is important to stress that Roy never wavered about his innocence.”
McGrath, 53, was charged in 2021 and 2022 with wire fraud, embezzlement and falsifying documents stemming from his time running the state-owned Maryland Environmental Service (MES), a position to which he was appointed by Hogan before becoming a top gubernatorial aide, federal prosecutors have said.
The FBI is not commenting on McGrath’s death, but confirmed that there was an “agent-involved shooting.”
“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting which occurred at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 3, 2023,” an FBI spokesperson said.
“During the arrest, the subject, Roy McGrath, sustained injury and was transported to the hospital,” the spokesperson said. “The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division.”
Murtha told The Washington Post it was “unclear to me at this time” how McGrath died, adding: “I haven’t gotten any information on whether Roy died from gunfire from an agent or whether it was a self-inflicted wound.”
McGrath was living in Naples, Florida, while he was awaiting trial, and when March 13 came, he didn’t board a plane for Baltimore, Maryland, where the trial was taking place, according to a spokesperson for the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office. Shortly after, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
