UPDATE:
Today at approximately 12:30 pm Carteret County deputies and Atlantic Beach police took Clenard Alex Gee-Simmons into custody without incident. The arrest was the result of NCIS agents learning that Gee-Simmons may have been in Carteret County and contacting authorities here. After a brief investigation Sheriffs detectives learned where Gee-Simmons was located. This arrest was made at an apartment complex on West Bogue Avenue in Atlantic Beach where Gee-Simmons was staying with a friend. Deputies got permission to enter the residence and Gee-Simmons immediately showed his hands and gave up hiding. He was transported to the Carteret County Jail where NCIS agents and military officials arrived, took over the investigation, and transported him back to Camp Lejeune.
During the 7 Action News at 6 report on the nationwide manhunt for AWOL Marine Clenard Alex Gee-Simmons, the man at the center of it all, emailed 7 Investigator Jonathan Carlson.
He claimed everyone had it wrong, and he wanted to talk before turning himself in.
We immediately alerted authorities, and waited for the sheriff to arrive. We the took a number of steps to verify it was in fact the man law enforcement was looking for.
Finally, we got Gee-Simmons on the phone.
“I’m not gonna tell you where I’m at right now. I am contacting you, because you said I was AWOL and trying to kill my ex-wife. That is not accurate at all,” he said by phone.
Earlier today, the 7 Investigators first broke the news that the Marine was considered AWOL by the military. They said he escaped from a “lock down” at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune, where he was detained after threatening to travel to Pontiac to kill his estranged wife.
The military also said he could be armed with an AK-47.
Law enforcement all over the east coast and Midwest have been hunting him ever since.
His wife in Pontiac was moved to a safe location by deputies.
“No, I am not armed,” Gee-Simmons told 7 Action News.
He continued to tell his side of the story, as Sheriff Mike Bouchard listened in.
“I left base. I was not detained,” he said. “I left base because I have, like, other issues going on right now. I left base for like, stress. I just didn’t want to be [on base]at the moment.”
He continued, “They took my Facebook post and blew it out of proportion.”
He says he recently posted on Facebook, “Has someone ever made you so mad, that you feel like wiping out them and their whole entire family.”
When asked if he regrets saying that, “Of course, clearly,” he says. He also denied that posting was aimed towards his wife.
“I am nowhere near Michigan,” he claimed.
When asked how he plans to end this, he replied, “I’m gonna turn myself in. Just not right now. I am gonna drive back on base and at the main gate, tell ’em where I’m at.”
Sheriff Bouchard reacted.
“[The military] told us there was info there was information he had threatened to kill his wife, and had an AK-47, and was on the way here. That’s a little more than something was taken out of context.”
“If what he’s saying is true, he can turn himself in now and put an end to this,” Bouchard said.
After that conversation, Gee-Simmons continued contacting Carlson. He again, would not say where he is, but said he is “very far south.” He said he plans to take a few days before turning himself in.
Meanwhile, the military tells us Gee-Simmons is a rifleman who was previously deployed in Afghanistan. He is from Detroit.
Right now, deputies in Oakland County are trying to sort all of this out. His statements Tuesday night shake up this whole nationwide investigation.