Former Aide to Maryland Ex-Governor Dies After Shooting Involving F.B.I.

The search for a onetime top aide to Maryland’s former governor who was the subject of a manhunt after he failed to appear for a federal fraud trial last month was injured in a shooting involving the F.B.I. in Tennessee on Monday and later died, the authorities said.

After the aide, Roy McGrath, 53, was hurt, he was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries, said Shayne Buchwald-Nickoles, an agent with the F.B.I.’s Baltimore field office. The shooting, Ms. Buchwald-Nickoles said, happened around 6:30 p.m. in a commercial area on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tenn., as F.B.I. agents were trying to arrest Mr. McGrath.

Mr. McGrath served as chief of staff to Larry Hogan for 11 weeks in the summer of 2020 when Mr. Hogan, a Republican, was Maryland’s governor. Mr. McGrath’s lawyer, Joseph Murtha, said on Tuesday that he did not know “whether Roy died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot or during an exchange of gunfire with the F.B.I.”

It was also unclear why Mr. McGrath, of Naples, Fla., was in Tennessee.

“Roy’s death is a tragic ending to three weeks of uncertainty,” Mr. Murtha said. “I think it is important to stress that Roy never wavered on his innocence.”

Ms. Buchwald-Nickoles said the F.B.I. would review the circumstances of the shooting and collect evidence from the scene.

Mr. McGrath failed to appear in court for his trial on March 13 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, prompting the authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest. The F.B.I. said later that it was seeking the public’s help in finding Mr. McGrath, offering a $10,000 reward for information that would lead to his arrest and prosecution.

“McGrath is now a fugitive and considered an international flight risk,” the F.B.I. said in a statement on March 28.

Mr. McGrath was facing federal charges. If convicted, he could have faced up to 20 years in federal prison for each of five counts of wire fraud; up to 10 years in prison for each of two county of embezzling funds; and up to 20 years in prison a falsified document charge.

Mr. McGrath was indicted in October 2021, accused by the Justice Department of fraudulently obtaining funds from the Maryland Environmental Service, where he was executive director before going to work as Mr. Hogan’s chief of staff.

According to the indictment, when Mr. McGrath stepped down from his role with the environmental service to work for Mr. Hogan, he convinced the service’s board of directors to approve a $233,647 severance payment, equal to one year’s salary, by telling the board that the governor had approved the payment. Mr. McGrath also falsified his time sheets from the environmental service to obtain additional money and schemed to have the environmental service pay for his tuition to an executive education program at Harvard Kennedy School, according to the indictment.

Mr. Hogan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Mr. McGrath appeared in court in October 2021 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released on the condition that he would appear for his scheduled court dates, the F.B.I. said.

In June 2022, a superseding indictment added falsification of records to the wire fraud and theft charges that Mr. McGrath was facing, according to the Justice Department. According to that indictment, Mr. McGrath created a fake memo from Mr. Hogan that approved Mr. McGrath’s severance pay from the environmental service.

When Gov. Hogan learned about the severance payment and asked Mr. McGrath about it, Mr. McGrath said that the Maryland Environmental Service’s board had offered it to him, according to the superseding indictment.