Capital murder charges in store killing; Muhammad alleged gunman

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Posted 11:14AM on Friday, October 25, 2002

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Capital murder charges in the slaying of a liquor store clerk are being filed against two men arrested in the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area, and John Allen Muhammad is the alleged gunman, police said Friday. Police Chief John Wilson said Muhammad is accused of killing the clerk outside the store as it closed Sept. 21, and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo is being charged as an accomplice. Police earlier indicated Malvo was the shooter who was chased by an officer, but Wilson said at a news conference that Muhammad is believed to be the gunman chased by the policeman after being seen standing over a victim. He said the death penalty would be sought against both Muhammad and Malvo under the charges being filed Friday. Wilson said it could be two or three years before the men are brought to Alabama for trial, but Mayor Bobby Bright said the Montgomery shootings should take precedent over the Washington-area cases. "I consider these the first victims of these snipers," said Bright. Wilson's announcement cast the killing of Claudine Parker and the critical wounding of co-worker Kellie Adams in a light different from Thursday, when he indicated Malvo was the suspect seen at the store, with no mention of Muhammad's role. Wilson initially had said a composite sketch of the Montgomery gunman had "some very good similarities" to Malvo, and that the teen-ager's fingerprint was found on a magazine about weapons near the store shooting. But Wilson said Friday that the officer who chased the suspect, given a chance to review a photo lineup, picked out Muhammad as being the man standing over the victim and chased. He said the officer had not been allowed to see any of the news media accounts and photographs of Muhammad and Malvo prior to being asked to pick out the gunman from the photo lineup. Another witness tentatively identified Malvo as being at a gas station near the liquor store, Wilson said, and a third witness may have seen at least one of the men. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested early Thursday in Maryland in the sniper shootings that terrorized the nation's capital and vicinity for three weeks. Amid questions about why the officer didn't shoot the fleeing suspect, Wilson said earlier he supports the officer's decision not to use deadly force. "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 behind him, Wilson said. "The officer feels just as bad about not catching the suspect for the crime here as anything else." The unidentified officer was parked across the street from the store and heard the gunshots that killed Parker, 52, and wounded Adams, 24, as they were locking up. But the gunman managed to outrun the officer. Adams, still recovering from her injuries, said Thursday she never lost consciousness after being shot and remembers seeing a slender black man standing over her, but that she only saw him from the waist down. "He must have been an excellent marksman because he was able to turn around and shoot Claudine in the back," Adams said. Wilson said he had no reason to believe the gunman had any connection to Montgomery other than just passing through, but an investigation was continuing. The mayor said Malvo's fingerprint was found on a weapons publication in a parking lot outside the liquor store, a critical piece of evidence linking the Montgomery case to the Washington-area sniper siege. 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. On Thursday, Oct. 17, a Montgomery County, Md., public information officer received a call from someone authorities now believe was the sniper. The caller referred to a robbery-homicide in "Montgomery." Some aspects of the Alabama and Washington-area crimes were different: Wilson said the gun used in the Montgomery, Ala., 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 rifle 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.