Sniper case linked to Alabama killing, when gunman almost caught

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Posted 11:16AM on Friday, October 25, 2002

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - An Alabama police officer may have come within a few feet of thwarting the deadly string of sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area days before they began. Authorities said a teenager arrested at a Maryland rest stop early Thursday in the sniper siege could have been the gunman who was nearly caught in Montgomery Sept. 21 after a liquor store clerk was shot to death. As evidence linking the crimes emerged, police recounted how the Montgomery officer giving chase on foot was only a couple of feet away from the gunman but couldn't capture him. The unidentified officer, who didn't shoot at the suspect, chased him after Claudine Parker was shot to death and co-worker Kellie Adams was critically wounded outside the store. Police Chief John Wilson said the man who fled had "some very good similarities" to John Lee Malvo, a 17-year-old arrested along with his Army veteran stepfather, John Allen Muhammad. Authorities plan to meet Friday to discuss any charges against the two. Wilson said at an afternoon news conference he had no reason to believe the gunman had any connection to Montgomery other than just passing through, but an investigation was continuing. Mayor Bobby Bright said Malvo's fingerprint was found on a weapons publication in a parking lot outside the state liquor store, which had just closed at 7 p.m. when the two women were shot. Wilson and Bright held news conferences outside the store, which is on a curvy, busy street of fast-food restaurants and businesses a few miles from the state Capitol. Although they said a firm connection between the sniper shootings and Montgomery killing was still being sought, they were optimistic that both cases were close to being solved. "I feel very good about it," Wilson said. Some aspects of the Alabama and Washington-area crimes were different: Wilson said the gun used in the Montgomery shooting had a different caliber from the .223-caliber weapon used in the Washington-area attacks. He said a handgun was apparently used by the Montgomery gunman, while a long gun was used by the sniper. Wilson also said the Montgomery assault was a robbery or an attempted robbery, with the gunman seen standing over a victim, rummaging through her purse, then running away. In the 13 sniper shootings that killed 10, the gunman was at a distance from where the victims fell, fleeing before witnesses could locate him. The police chief said two officers in a patrol car across the street at a Taco Bell heard the gunfire outside the liquor store and gave chase, with one getting within a couple of feet of the suspect. A clerk in an adjoining store said she and a friend heard the shots and ran into a bathroom, fearful they might be harmed. "We were terrified," said Donna Weathers. "My friend saw him run by, but she couldn't identify him." A member of Parker's family said officers could have done more to stop the killer, possibly avoiding the sniper shootings that followed. "I wonder why they didn't shoot him in the foot or something," said sister-in-law Odean Lee of Seattle, Wash. Wilson said he would not second-guess the judgment of the officer, who did consider firing his gun but who decided not to use potentially deadly force to stop the suspect. "He's looking at a fleeing suspect who's not a threat to him, and he was not fully aware of what had transpired" at the shooting scene, Wilson said Thursday evening. "The officer feels just as bad about not catching the suspect for the crime here as anything else." The investigation of the liquor store killing had stalled and there was no speculation of any connection to the October sniper siege until a call was placed to the sniper tip line. The mayor said the caller apparently claimed responsibility for both the sniper shootings and the Montgomery shooting. Bright said the tip-line caller told authorities to contact Montgomery officials if they didn't believe he was responsible for the sniper shootings that began Oct. 2. That apparent boast led federal investigators to check with Montgomery investigators Sunday night, and connections began to emerge. But it remained unclear Thursday why Malvo might have been in Montgomery. After Malvo's fingerprint was connected to the Montgomery killing, authorities traced Malvo to a home in Tacoma, Wash., where Muhammad is believed to have once lived and which authorities searched Wednesday.