Subject: [NEXTEL-1] UPDATE: D.A. SAYS SUSPECT TO BE CHARGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER ESCAPEE SHOOTS OFFICERS, DISPATCHER

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 20:27:38 -0400

UPDATE: D.A. SAYS SUSPECT TO BE CHARGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER ESCAPEE SHOOTS
OFFICERS, DISPATCHER

By Jay Reeves
The Associated Press
June 07, 2003

Email this story.

A teenage suspect grabbed an
officer's gun and opened fire early
Saturday in a small-town police
station, killing two officers and a
dispatcher before fleeing in a patrol
car, authorities said. Fayette
County District Attorney Chris
McCool said the suspect would be
charged with capital murder.

PLUS: Photos from the day in
Fayette

FAYETTE, 5:30 p.m. -- A teenage
suspect grabbed an officer's gun and
opened fire early Saturday in a
small-town police station, killing two
officers and a dispatcher before fleeing
in a patrol car, authorities said.

The cruiser was spotted about 3 1/2
hours later, just across the state line
in Mississippi, and the driver was
arrested, said Lowndes County, Miss.,
Sheriff's Deputy Tony Mulligan.

In jail records, Mississippi authorities identified the driver as Devan
Darnel Moore, 18, of Jasper, located about 30 miles northeast of
Fayette.

District Attorney Chris McCool said the suspect would be charged
with capital murder.

Officials said Moore, who grew up in Fayette but graduated high
school in neighboring Walker County two weeks ago, was being
booked on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle when the gunfire
erupted.

The shootings stunned this quiet community of 5,000, an old textile
town where many people work in small manufacturing plants near
Alabama's hilly coal country.

Moore was well known in Fayette because his older brother, Michael
Moore, played football at the University of Alabama and is now with
the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe.

``I never saw anything to make me think he'd be a mass murderer,''
said teacher Ron Hannah, adding that the younger Moore also had
once played football. ``He was just a normal kid.''

Moore's father, Kenneth Moore, told The Associated Press his
younger son had a troubled past but he thought the young man had
turned things around when he graduated and announced he would
join the Air Force.

``The people here that I've been talking to, I told he needs help,''
Kenneth Moore said after his son's arrest.

The two Fayette police officers and dispatcher, all veterans, were
fatally shot inside the one-story, brick police station about 5:30 a.m.
CDT, said coroner Richard Nelson.

A firefighter heard the shots from the adjoining fire station and
rushed into the Police Department. The suspect already was gone,
said Mayor Ron Nelson, and the men were dead.

Moore was arrested about 9 a.m. CDT, some 12 miles west of the
Alabama border.

Nelson said the suspect had been handcuffed after being stopped
about 3 a.m., but the handcuffs could have been removed during
fingerprinting.

``There was a struggle,'' Nelson said, and an officer's weapon was
taken. Nelson said the department had 14 officers before the
shooting.

``This is a tragedy for our community,'' Nelson said. The Alabama
House of Representatives, in session Saturday, held a moment of
silence for the victims.

City Councilman Cedric Wilson identified the dead as Cpl. James
Crump, Officer Arnold Strickland and dispatcher Ace Mealer. He said
he was familiar with the suspect but didn't know what could have
motivated the violence.

``That kind of boggles all of us, what would make him do such a
thing,'' Wilson said.

Moore is black, and Wilson said some black residents have complained
in years past of heavy-handed police tactics. But Wilson, who also is
black, said such problems were over and denied race was a factor,
noting that Crump was black. Strickland and Mealer were white.

Moore's father said his son was a troubled young man believed by his
mother to be involved in selling drugs.

``I kept telling people about it, going to the church and telling
people he was a troubled child, but people didn't pay me no mind,'' he
said. ``I raised him from a baby, but people don't listen.''

Kenneth Moore said he sent his son to live with the young man's
mother two years ago because he couldn't control him. He said his
son would often steal his car, and last year his mother found a gun in
the house belonging to him.

``I'm a discipline parent and everybody around town knows I'm a
good parent,'' Moore said. ``One parent can't do it all by himself.''

Doris Brasher, who owns a grocery store near the police station, said
many in the close-knit town knew the three men who were killed.

``I was just upset about the policemen because Mr. Strickland --
one of the officers who was killed -- came by regularly and stopped
in by the store and made sure I was OK,'' Brasher said. ``He was a
very nice man.''

With the bodies still lying in the police station as forensics experts
gathered evidence, about a half-dozen officers placed black ribbons
on signposts outside. They briefly bowed their heads in prayer.

``It's a sad day for all of us who wear the badge,'' said Police Chief
Euel Hall.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030607/NEWS/306070001/1007
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