Suspect shoots self after bank robbery, hostage-taking

A man armed with a silver handgun – identified by police as Nicholas Pierre Clark, 28, of Roanoke Rapids – robbed the First Citizens Bank on East 10th Street around 3:30 p.m. Witnesses said he fled on foot down Drake Street.

Officers found the stolen money and a pair of sunglasses in the yard of a house at 1308 Patsy Albritton St., police said. They found the residents of the home in the attic. Once they were out of the house, the residents told police that a man armed with a handgun had taken them hostage and was still in the house.

Police said that officers found Clark hiding behind a dresser, and when confronted, he shot himself.

Clark was transported to Halifax County Regional Medical Center, then flown to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville. He was in critical condition Friday afternoon.

Pending against Clark are charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree kidnapping, felony breaking and entering and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Clark was released from prison in December after serving a nearly two-year sentence for violating his probation, according to state Department of Correction records. That probation stemmed from 2004 convictions on two counts of common-law robbery and one count each of attempted assault inflicting serious bodily injury, driving while impaired and speeding to elude arrest.