CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A sheriff’s deputy who was shot while trying to stop a crime spree that included a bank standoff has died, and prosecutors filed more charges against the suspects Wednesday, authorities said.

Tommy Martin, 59, was shot in the face and torso during the June 21 crime spree. He died late Tuesday, Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup said in a statement.

Two Chicago men, William B. Thompson, 26, and Yusef Kareem Brown, 23, were charged with three counts of first-degree murder, said Diana Eveland, a spokesman for Douglas County State’s Attorney Kevin Nolan. They had already been charged with attempted murder and other crimes.

Thompson also faces charges of taking hostages at a bank. The men pleaded not guilty last week. Nolan is considering whether to seek the death penalty, Eveland said.

Authorities said the crimes began when Brown and Thompson fled a traffic stop on Interstate 57. The two then allegedly robbed a house and stole a truck and van before one of them shot Martin _ who was responding to the burglary _ as they drove past him.

The suspects then allegedly abandoned the truck and drove away in the van.

After a high-speed chase, Brown was arrested but police said Thompson went into the First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust in Arcola and took hostages. Thompson released four hostages over seven hours, then peacefully left the bank with the last hostage, police said.

Martin, a native of Tuscola and a member of the sheriff’s department since 2004, was well-known to many of the 4,500 people in the county seat. At a hearing last Friday, the judge handling the case, Michael Carroll, said he’d known Martin all his life and called him a friend.

Even the public defender representing Thompson, Jim Lee, considered Martin a friend. He said that would not affect his defense of Thompson, and on Wednesday said he might ask that the trial be moved.

“I have a job to do,” Lee said. “If Tommy was here now, he’d tell you the same thing. He’d understand that.”

Associated Press writer Ryan Keith in Springfield contributed to this report.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)