AWOL Marine tells reporter: 'I'm going to turn myself in, just not right now'

Clenard Gee-Simmons, 21, fled from a low priority lockdown unit at Camp Lejeune on Monday and made "credible threats" toward his 19-year-old wife and her family, who live in Pontiac, Mich., according to Michigan authorities.

A member of Gee-Simmons' platoon reported that the Marine has an AK-47 assault rifle.

Gee-Simmons emailed WXYZ Detroit reporter Jonathan Carlson on Tuesday and claimed that "everyone had it wrong, and he wanted to talk before turning himself in," Carlson said.

Carlson alerted the sheriff and got the AWOL Marine on the phone.

“I’m not going to tell you where I’m at right now," Gee-Simmons said. "You mentioned in a post that I was AWOL and trying to kill my ex-wife. That is not accurate at all.”

Gee-Simmons said he is not armed and is "nowhere near Michigan." He left base, he said, due to stress.

"They took my Facebook post and blew it out of proportion ... I made a post saying I was probably going to go to Michigan, just so they wouldn’t look for me," he said. "I’m going to turn myself in, just not right now. I’m going to drive back onto base and right there at the main gate tell them where I’m at."

When Carlson asked if Gee-Simmons was in North Carolina, he said no, but that he's "close to North Carolina."

Authorities say Gee-Simmons made multiple threats to kill his wife and her family before she left North Carolina for Michigan. They say she had filed for divorce.

Gee-Simmons drives a 2011 Toyota Camry with metallic teal paint and North Carolina license plate DEP 1561.