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NASHVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA — A man who served 20 years on a prior murder conviction was found hiding out in Nash County on an unrelated, more recent murder charge Tuesday morning, according to Nash County Sheriff, Keith Stone.
A U.S. Marshals Service task force received assistance from the sheriff’s office Tuesday morning when an attempt to serve a “high risk” arrest warrant turned deadly.
The U.S. Marshals Service had been working to locate 40-year-old Donald Fields, who was wanted in New York for second-degree murder and wanted in Connecticut for absconding, according to Sgt. Kevin Bissette with the sheriff’s office.
Foot chase and shooting
On Tuesday morning, Fields was seen outside of a home in the 4800 block of Crabtree Lane in Nashville. When U.S. Marshals attempted to engage with him, a foot chase started, according to Sgt. Bissette.
Deputies joined Marshals in the pursuit, jumping over fencing and eventually catching up with Fields about 200-300 yards into a wooded area.
Fields held a pistol to his head before he “made a brief statement implying that he was not going to be taken into custody,” and then shot himself, Bissette said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Life saving measures were attempted immediately, but the suspect died at the scene.
As is protocol, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was notified and is conducting an investigation.
Nash County Animal Control also seized at least five dogs from the Crabtree Lane address.
When asked what a fugitive was doing in Nash County, Sheriff Keith Stone said he apparently moved to town as an “absconder on the run” and was not alone.
The house was described as non-assuming brick home in a quaint neighborhood with a Nashville address that’s about a mile from the small community of Castalia.
“This house also had another federal fugitive in it,” the sheriff said, identifying a man named Lonnie Hawley.
Hawley had been living there and is believed to be related to Fields, but their exact relationship is not known, the sheriff said. Hawley had an out-of-state warrant out for his arrest on federal weapons violations and was taken into custody.
In a brief conversation with Hawley, the sheriff said it appeared the home belongs to Hawley’s mother and the two men were in the process of cleaning and moving in.
Facing the ‘most dangerous individuals’
Sheriff Stone underscored the heroic efforts of the U.S. Marshal Service, commending them for going out and getting the “most dangerous individuals that other law enforcement agencies are not equipped to handle.”
Stone said they have what is probably the most dangerous jobs in federal law enforcement.
Speaking about Fields, the sheriff said he “had a murder conviction and pulled 20 years in prison” before going back and allegedly committing another murder in New York.
Speaking to the gravity of those final moments when Fields pulled the trigger of the 9mm semiautomatic handgun to his head, the sheriff said there’s something he wants the public to understand.
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