Former chief of staff to MD Governor dead after federal manhunt resulted in FBI shootout

Roy McGrath, the former chief of staff to the last governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, is dead after a weeks-long federal manhunt for him ended in a shootout with FBI agents in Knoxville, Tennessee.

McGrath, who briefly worked as Hogan’s chief of staff from June to August of 2020, was on the run from federal agents after he skipped his first court date last month. He was facing charges of embezzlement and fraud for forging a memo from then-governor Hogan agreeing to a hefty severance package for McGrath from his previous employer, another state-affiliated agency. He was indicted in 2021 and pleaded not guilty.

Federal agents located McGrath in the Knoxville area on Monday, where a shootout between McGrath and one or more FBI agents. The FBI confirmed McGrath had been shot in the altercation and succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital shortly thereafter. McGrath’s attorney, Joseph Murtha, issued a statement about his client’s death on Tuesday, saying, “It is a tragic ending to the past three weeks of uncertainty. It is important for me to stress that Roy never wavered about his innocence.”

It is unclear at this time whether McGrath died from an agent-inflicted or a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The FBI is investigating the confrontation. McGrath had been facing over 100 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts, and had been a federal fugitive since March 13.