Authorities still hunting fugitive Florida siblings

By Colleen Jenkins

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla | Tue Aug 9, 2011 8:03pm EDT

(Reuters) - A Florida sheriff urged three fugitive siblings accused of crimes in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday to heed their mother's advice and turn themselves in after a week on the run.

"We want a peaceful ending to this," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said. "They should listen to their mother when she is begging them to turn themselves in."

The trio, wanted in connection with the attempted murder of a Florida police officer and a subsequent bank robbery in Georgia, has eluded local and federal authorities since August 2, even as billboards flashed their photos across 11 states.

The siblings -- Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, and Lee Grace E. Dougherty, 29 -- each have prior criminal records and are suspected of carrying an arsenal of weapons, police said.

"They've proven that they are very violent individuals," Nocco said.

Colorado police were investigating a report received on Tuesday afternoon of a sighting of people matching the Dougherty siblings' descriptions.

The individuals were seen driving a small, white vehicle with a Texas license plate that had been reported stolen, Colorado Springs police said. The white car initially connected to the siblings had a New York tag.

Authorities said the alleged crime spree began when suspects inside a car being pursued for speeding shot at the patrol vehicle of a Zephyrhills, Florida, police officer.

The chase, which reached speeds up to 100 miles per hour, ended when the officer's vehicle became disabled from a flat tire caused by a round fired by the suspects, police said.

About five hours later, suspects of a similar description robbed a bank in Valdosta, Georgia, police said.

One of the suspects carried an AK-47 assault rifle as they entered the bank dressed in black and wearing masks, the FBI said. Shots were fired at the ceiling, and everyone in the bank was ordered to get down. The three suspects escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, the FBI said.

Tips received since then have also put the siblings in Tennessee. Nocco said they could be anywhere, including back in their home state of Florida.

Their mother has pleaded for her children to give themselves up.

"Your lives are not over," Barbara Bell said on WFTS-TV in Tampa. "Only mom knows what good people you are inside. Please prove me right and everybody wrong by doing the right thing now and turning yourselves in."

(Additional reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)