March 15, 1998
NEW YORK, _ A 32-year-old maintenance man from Harlem is recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck after his furious girlfriend opened fire on him while he was working. Police say 22-year- old LaDeamma McMoore shot Percivel Saunders with a rifle after a dispute at about 5 this morning. McMoore was arrested and the rifle was recovered at the scene. Saunders is listed in stable condition at a local hospital.
MAN SHOT AT BABYSITTER'S HOME
VENICE, Calif.,_ Police say a man in his mid-20s was fatally shot in the head minutes after he dropped off his toddler at a babysitter's home in Venice (Friday). A Los Angeles police spokesman says investigators have no motive or suspect in the shooting, which occurred at about 9:40 a.m.
MAN GETS LIFE SENTENCE FOR ROLE IN DEATH OF 2 AT AUTO DEALERSHIP
CHICAGO -- A South Side man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without possibility of parole for his involvement in the 1995 murder of two businessmen who were gunned down at an auto sales office during a robbery.
Johnson and co-defendant Larod Styles, 18, went into the office of the auto lot they had visited earlier that day and opened fire on the men inside on Dec. 4, 1995.
GUN-TOTING FATHER INDICTED IN SHOOTING
ROLLING MEADOWS -- A Rolling Meadows man, recently freed by a judge after police said he shot a man he suspected of making advances on his teenage daughter, was back in court Thursday to face charges again in the alleged incident.
Rolling Meadows police allege Kincaid used a rifle Feb. 16 to shoot a 25-year-old Wheeling man after discovering him near the laundry room of his apartment complex. Police said Kincaid suspected that the man had gone to the apartment complex to meet Kincaid's daughter. Kincaid, who was evicted from his apartment and has been living in an Elgin hotel, originally was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated assault and failure to have a state-issued firearm owner's identification card, Larsson said.
The week before the shooting, Kincaid was charged with assault in another case. Police said Kincaid threatened a woman and a bystander with a bat after the woman opened her car door and struck the side of Kincaid's vehicle in a shopping mall near his apartment.
AURORA MAN CHARGED IN OCTOBER MURDER
Aurora police have charged a man already in custody over another incident with an October shooting that left one man dead and two other people wounded.
Armando Amaya, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the Oct. 29 shootings.
Amaya is accused of killing Jermaine Lambert, 26, of Aurora. Lambert was among a large group of people on the back porch of a small apartment building who were peppered with gunfire on Oct. 29, police said.Tara Y. Harris, 27, and Alonzo T. Matthews, 21, both of Aurora, each underwent surgery for chest wounds.
About 90 minutes after the Lambert shooting, Amaya was arrested after a 37-year-old man was shot in the back and neck in the 100 block of North Kendall Street. Amaya was charged with aggravated battery and attempted murder in that incident.
Kane County Circuit Court clerk records indicate that Amaya also faces 1997 charges of disorderly conduct and marijuana possession.
MIDDLETOWN, Conn., _ A murder suspect is scheduled to undergo a psychiatric examination to determine if he's competent to stand trial. Frank Rosa is accused of shooting Anthony Amendola last month in Middletown, Conn. He is being held on $5 million bond.
Police don't know what Rosa's motive was, but the Hartford Courant reports that Amendola's family members believe Rosa may have argued with him over a woman and a job. Local authorities also seized six pounds of cocaine from Rosa's apartment after the murder, but they don't yet know what role, if any, the drugs played in the killing.
GUNMAN WANTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE ON TV
AUBURN, Wash., _ Police in Auburn, Wash., say a 34- year-old man who held half-a-dozen hostages at gunpoint in a bank wanted to kill himself on live TV.
Authorities say the plan went awry when the last of the hostages escaped and the man they identified as David Toppn wound up shooting himself in the stomach, causing a wound that does not appear to be fatal. The man was in serious condition today after surgery.
Police say the gunman has an extensive crime record, a history of mental illness and of suicide attempts. He is expected to be charged with assault and kidnapping.
POLICE REPORT
Elgin, IL.-- Three shots were fired Tuesday afternoon at a house in the 700 block of Prospect Avenue, police said. A 43-year-old man was sitting in his car when he saw a sport-utility vehicle travel down the street and then heard the shots. The vehicle fled the area at a high rate of speed. Bullet holes were found on a patio screen window and outer wall. No one was hurt in the shooting.
1 KILLED, 1 WOUNDED IN HOLDUP
EVANSVILLE, INDIANA -- Without making any demands, armed robbers fatally shot a convenience store clerk during an overnight holdup along Interstate Highway 64 and seriously wounded a stranded motorist waiting inside for a ride.
GRAYSLAKE AREA MAN FACES LIFE FOR 2 MURDERS
A 24-year-old man faces life in prison after a Lake County jury convicted him of killing men with one bullet.
Mills was accused of shooting Tyrone Davis, 22, at such a close range that Larry Turner, 40, who was standing next to him, also was killed.
Mills suspected that Davis had broken into Mills' home several months before the murder, prosecutors argued, and was exacting revenge. Turner was talking to Davis at the time of the shooting, but was struck by the bullet after it exited Davis.
TWO NABBED IN TEEN'S SLAYING
LAS VEGAS, Nev.,_ A man and woman are awaiting extradition from Nevada to Southern California in connection with the slaying of a 17-year-old boy and the rape and shooting of his 16-year- old girlfriend.
Authorities say 21-year-old Michael Martinez and 28-year-old Florence Noriega are being held at the Clark County Detention Center following their arrest late Saturday night in a Las Vegas hotel room.
The two are expected to be extradited to Southern California to stand trial for kidnapping and strangling Chad MacDonald of Yorba Linda and attacking his girlfriend last week.
Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide investigators say they have identified a third suspect and are trying to get an arrest warrant for him.
MacDonald was found dead in a Los Angeles alley. His girlfriend was found wandering alongHighway 39 in the Angeles National Forest, where she apparently had been left to die after being raped and shot in the face.
The girl said she and her boyfriend had been imprisoned for three days in a house in Norwalk that was suspected of gang and drug activity.
BABY-SITTER'S SLAYING LINKED TO DRUGS
The 14-year-old girl killed last week while baby-sitting on the Southwest Side was a victim of robbers searching for drugs she did not know were in the apartment, police said Sunday.
Murder charges in connection with the Thursday night killing of Fulton School student Shonte Delaney were filed Sunday against three men who were in custody: Tron Williams, 19, and Anthony Sims, 25, both of W. 59th St., and Marcus Jackson, 23, of South Parnell Avenue, police said. The three also were charged with home invasion. Authorities also issued an arrest warrant for Joe Jackson, 28, of the 6900 block of Parnell Avenue, in connection with the murder.
Jackson has a 1992 conviction for attempted murder and armed violence. He received a 10-year sentence and was released in January, 1997.
Williams, the brother of the aunt for whom Shonte was baby-sitting, allegedly knew about the drugs from visiting the apartment, police said. The girl was shot once in the chest.
"The offenders developed information that there was a sizable quantity of marijuana--about 6 pounds--where the homicide occurred," Morison said. "They apparently concocted a plan to go in and steal the marijuana when the mother of the two children wasn't home."
CUSTOMER IS SLAIN; MECHANIC IS CHARGED
ROSELAND -- A 27-year-old mechanic has been charged with murder after a customer was shot to death during a disagreement about repairs to the customer's car, police said Sunday.
Alverdis Alexander of W. 80th St. was charged in connection with the slaying Saturday of Steven Parks, 23, of the 3400 block of South Prairie Avenue, police said.
The shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in a private garage behind 11358 S. Forest Ave., police said.
Parks was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m. Saturday.
BOUNCED FROM NIGHTCLUB, MAN SHOOTS 10
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- A man who had been kicked out of a nightclub returned 15 minutes later with a semi-automatic weapon and opened fire early Sunday, wounding 10 people.
One woman who was shot several times was in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital. The others injured were listed in serious condition at various hospitals. Police were reviewing videotapes from a surveillance camera at a nursing home across the street to try to identify the shooter who fled Brooklyn's Sugarhill Club.
"We are looking at exactly what the reason was for the dispute," said Assistant Chief Joseph Esposito, "but there were two men who were asked to leave and one of them returned and fired the rounds."
MAN IS FATALLY SHOT IN FIGHT OVER CAB
The cabdriver, Russell Hobson, 35, ofS. Calumet Ave., was charged Saturday morning with first-degree murder, Chicago police said.
Horton had called for and was waiting for a cab shortly after 11:20 p.m. Friday at 5458 S. Lake Park Ave. when Hobson drove up.
When the cabdriver allowed another fare to get into the cab, Horton and the driver began arguing, with Horton standing outside the front passenger-side window.
Then the driver pulled out a 9 mm handgun and shot Horton in the head.
The other incident involved an unidentified man in his 30s found shot to death, his hands and feet bound with duct tape, at 6:45 a.m. Saturday in a vacant lot at 3840 S. Wabash Ave..
BOYFRIEND, 21, IS CHARGED IN PREGNANT TEEN'S SLAYING
A South Side man was charged with murder Saturday, a day after being accused of shooting to death his pregnant girlfriend, police said.
Angelo Martin, 21, of Chicago, was charged with one count each of first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child.
The girlfriend, Keisha Irving, 18, of the 2300 block of South State Street, was shot in the neck in her apartment at 12:15 p.m. Friday, Morison said. The shooting took place during a quarrel, he said.
March 6, 1998
A Lake County jury on Thursday convicted a North Chicago man of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the shooting death of a U.S. Navy recruit.
Wilson was accused of shooting to death Seaman Recruit David C. Taylor, 22, of Redondo Beach, Calif., after robbing several people in an apartment where Taylor was a visitor early on the morning of Nov. 1.
March 6, 1998
Former Broadview resident Charles Eugling was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole in the murder of a Westchester man who had dated Eugling's ex-girlfriend.
Robert Lenzi, 34, was slain in his home in September 1995 after Eugling broke in and shot him five times at point-blank range, police said.
Assistant State's Atty. David Sabatini said Eugling borrowed a .45-caliber pistol from a friend to kill Lenzi because the victim was dating a woman Eugling had briefly dated in 1993.
GUNMAN KILLS FOUR AT CONNECTICUT STATE LOTTERY
NEWINGTON, Conn. - An angry accountant went on a shooting rampage at Connecticut's state lottery headquarters Friday, killing four top executives before turning the gun on himself, officials said.
The gunman, Matthew Beck, killed three of his colleagues inside the building and then chased lottery president Otho Brown outside into a parking lot and shot him to death with a semi-automatic handgun, police said.
Beck, 35, died at nearby Hartford Hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his right temple, hospital officials said.
Beck, who had returned to work a week ago after a four-month leave of absence, filed a job-related grievance in August, Connecticut Public Safety Commissioner John Connelly told reporters at a press conference at Newington town hall.
BLIND MAN SHOOTS POTTING SOIL
GRAND HAVEN, Mich.,_ A blind man who recently tried to rob a bank is now in trouble for allegedly firing a bullet into a bag of potting soil at a busy store, barely missing a clerk.
A prosecutor says he's frustrated that the suspect, 49-year-old Ronald Cobb of Muskegon, is the same man for whom bank robbery charges were dismissed by a judge last month.
Cobb had told the judge he took a cab to the Old Kent Bank in Grand Haven and attempted robbery to draw public attention to what he considers poor medical treatment at a local clinic.
The charges were dismissed after a defense attorney said Cobb's behavior was ``a cry for help'' and not a crime. A mental health exam found him competent.
But after Thursday night's shooting in a Meijer store, Prosecutor Ronald Frantz says he'll try to put Cobb in prison. He's being charged with a felony weapons violation.
The Muskegon Chronicle reports the shooting occurred while a Meijer clerk led the blind man through the store.
The report says Cobb had put pillows and two, 20-pound bags of potting soil into his shopping cart. While walking through the home fashion section, he got out a handgun and pulled the trigger four times before it discharged.
The clerk told police it looked like the gun was pointing at his leg. He pushed Cobb's arm, the gun fired and the bullet struck the potting soil. The clerk then disarmed Cobb and held him until police arrived.
SIX SHOT IN KANSAS CITY RESTAURANT
KANSAS CITY, Kan., _ Authorities in Kansas City, Kan., are searching for a gunman who opened fire Thursday night in a restaurant, killing one person and wounding five others.
Police say the assailant entered a restroom at the El Imperial Mexican Restaurant about 7 p.m. and emerged a few minutes later wearing a ski mask. The gunman began shooting at a group of people sitting at the bar, and then at diners sitting at a nearby table.
March 5, 1998
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE -- A white serial killer who targeted blacks, Jews and interracial couples and admits to attacks on Vernon Jordan and Larry Flynt pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing a black man here.
In a plea bargain, Joseph Paul Franklin was sentenced to two life terms. One for the 1978 shooting of William Tatum outside a restaurant because Tatum was with a white woman and the other life sentence was for an unrelated 1977 armed robbery in Chattanooga. Franklin, 47, faces execution in Missouri for a murder there.
Tatum's slaying was Franklin's seventh murder conviction. He is suspected in 10 other murders in a spree that began in 1977 and ended in 1980 as he roamed the country targeting blacks, Jews and interracial couples, surviving by robbing banks and selling his blood, prosecutors said.
Franklin was acquitted of shooting Jordan when he was a civil rights leader in 1980 but says the jury made a mistake. He also admits shooting Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, in 1978 but was never prosecuted.
Flynt was left paralyzed. Jordan became a prominent Washington lawyer and is a close friend of President Clinton.
Franklin, a native of Mobile, Ala., has been linked to slayings in Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Utah.
He insisted on jury trials in previous cases but wanted to confess to the Chattanooga killing, Assistant District Atty. Gen. Joseph Rehyansky said.
TEEN FOUND DEAD IN MOTEL 6
ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 5 (UPI) _ Police say they have not identified a teenaged boy who was shot to death in a motel room, but his alleged killer is being held without bail.
Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies say they found 25-year-old Kendrick Bencomo Jr. of Los Angeles with the youth's body when they responded to a disturbance call at a Motel 6 in Rosemead.
Deputies say they also recovered a gun that is believed to have been used in the shooting.
The victim is believed to be 15 years old.
ELDERLY BRIDE ARRAIGNED IN MAN'S DEATH
BATTLE CREEK, Mich.,_ An 83-year-old newlywed faces murder charges in the shotgun-slaying of her husband.
Police say Annie Mae Fitzgerald has confessed to shooting 47-year-old Elisa Earl Fitzgerald in the face after a fight in their Battle Creek home.
A district court judge today ordered the woman held without bond pending a preliminary hearing March 18. She faces up to life in prison.
The couple was married less than four months ago. On Wednesday, the woman called police to report her husband was dead.
Later, after an autopsy, police confronted Fitzgerald with facts about his death and asked whether she had fired a small-gauge shotgun at his head. She confessed.
The newlyweds started their life together on shaky ground.
A few weeks after the marriage, police say the wife shot at but missed the husband. They had been arguing on a porch. She then kicked him out of the house but let him return in January.
Exactly why the couple argued isn't clear.
But a neighbor, tells the Kalamazoo Gazette that Annie Fitzgerald ``always said she would kill him, and I guess she did.''
Monday March 2, 1998
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The California Department of Corrections is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the murder last month of Correctional Officer Elizabeth Begaren.
Officer Begaren was found shot to death on the East Street on-ramp to eastbound 91 freeway in Anaheim about 11 p.m. on Jan. 17. Just prior to the shooting, Officer Begaren was in a car with her husband, Nuzzio Begaren. His 10-year-old daughter was also a passenger in the car.
AFTERMATH OF TRAFFIC QUARREL ON SOUTH SIDE CLAIMS 2 LIVES
A traffic dispute Friday on the South Side led to the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy and contributed to the death of a 28-year-old woman, according to police.
Theoplies, 17, was involved in a minor traffic accident at 51st Street and Ashland Avenue, Morison said. After the two drivers argued, Theoplies drove away, Morison said.
The second driver followed Theoplies, then fired at Theoplies' car, Morison said. Theoplies and his passengers fled on foot. But the gunman chased Theoplies, shooting him in the back as he ran through a vacant lot, Morison said. No arrests had been made by Saturday afternoon
COLORADO MAN ADMITS RAMPAGE
ALMA, Colo., _ A part-time snowplow driver and self- described anarchist says he killed a former mayor during a rampage through the small Rocky Mountain town of Alma with a front-end loader.
Thomas Leask admits ramming the front-end loader into town hall, the post office, the fire station and the water-treatment plant, knocking out the town's telephone service and water supply late Thursday.
Described by his brother Andrew Leask as a drinker and drug abuser, the Vietnam veteran lived in a tepee behind his family's home because he resented paying taxes on the builidng. Residents say he often tore boards from the home to stoke the fires that kept him warm through the high country winter.
Former Mayor Willie Morrison, who was running an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, confronted Leask, who gunned him down outside the building.
Six Molotov cocktails were planted in the building, but only one ignited.
FATHER PLEADS GUILTY IN SON-IN-LAW'S SHOOTING DEATH
A Winfield Township man charged with the 1996 shooting death of his son-in-law pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
In pleading guilty to second-degree murder, High contended that Powell abused both his wife and his mother-in-law.
High said the slaying occurred during a domestic disturbance in which High contended he was forced to shoot Powell to protect other family members.
In Illinois, a person is guilty of second-degree murder when he or she acts in the unwarranted fear that his life or that of another person is in peril, said Assistant State's Atty. Tim Diamond.
Thursday February 26, 1998
AN ALEXANDRIA MAN WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED TODAY BY A YOUNG INTRUDER IN HIS APARTMENT.
Police say the 37-year-old postal service security guard _ whose name has not been released _ was shot several times when he came home this afternoon to his apartment in the 4800 block of Kenmore Avenue. The shooter _ described as an African American teenager _ got away. The victim is being treated at Washington Hospital Center.
Thursday February 26, 1998
There are reports of a shooting outside the American History Museum this afternoon, near 14th and Constitution. The reports say a 17-year- old boy was shot in the wrist, and ran inside the museum to get help. He is being treated at George Washington University Hospital. Police are looking for a suspect and a motive.
February 26, 1998
SOUTH SIDE -- Sidney London, 65, was found critically wounded Wednesday morning in the 2500 block of West 71st Street. Police said they believe two gunmen were responsible for the shooting. London, whose address was unknown, was taken to Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn with a gunshot wound to the head. He was listed in critical condition late Wednesday. No motive has been established for the shooting.
Thursday February 26, 1998
HOUSTON,_ Federal authorities have decided not to bring civil rights charges in the case of a Marine on an anti-drug patrol who fatally shot a youth near his home in remote West Texas last May.
The Houston Chronicle reports today the Justice Department is expected to announce Friday thatMarine Cpl. Clemente Banuelos was cleared in the civil rights probe of criminal wrongdoing in the death of Esequiel Hernandez.
Hernandez was herding sheep when he allegedly fired twice in the direction of four camouflaged soldiers before being shot himself.
The 18-year-old high school student died just yards from his family home near Redford in a remote area near the Texas-Mexico border when Banuelos fired a round from his M-16 rifle.
Hernandez usually carried a .22 rifle on his rounds with the sheep to ward off coyotes and other predators, and investigators speculated that he did not know he was shooting at U.S. soldiers.
The incident triggered a firestorm of controversy over the propriety of U.S. soldiers patrolling near the Mexico border for drugs.
The Justice Department's decision clearing Banuelos did not satisfy Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee.
The Chronicle quotes him saying, ``The shooting is still troubling to me. Not all the questions have been answered and no one has been held accountable . This is a situation that would not have occurred with the proper training and supervision.''
A Presidio County grand jury in August declined to bring state criminal charges in the incident.
Thursday February 26, 1998
REED CITY, Mich.,_ Students at a northern Michigan middle school are in shock after a fellow classmate shot himself in the head right before first-hour classes Wednesday morning.
Officials at Reed City Middle School say 13-year-old Vincent Garaflo pulled a .22 caliber rifle out of a gun case in his locker and shot himself in front of the other students.
The eighth grader died over four hours later at a Traverse City hospital.
February 26, 1998
An act of domestic violence reached a deadly level Wednesday night when a man apparently shot and killed his ex-wife as her children looked on. The suspect was still at large, Harrison Area detectives said.
The children were unharmed, according to a preliminary report.
According to the report, Mariam Roman, 40, and her three children were sitting in the family minivan near St. Mark Catholic Church, 1048 N. Campbell Ave., shortly before 6:15 p.m. when the ex-husband walked up to the driver-side window.
Witnesses told police that the ex-husband began shooting through the window, according to the report.
Wednesday February 25, 1998
SAN JOSE, Calif., _ Authorities say two people have been killed and one person critically injured in an early morning shooting (Wednesday) at a home in south San Jose, Calif. Police say at least two men burst into the home and opened fire, but the motive for the shooting has not been determined.
Feb. 24, 1998
A man being held on $2 million bond goes on trial today for the 1995 murders of five people. Geoffrey Ferguson is accused of shooting three of his tenants and two of their friends in a rent dispute at the home he owned in Redding. Ferguson then allegedly set the house on fire and fled the state. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Ferguson.
Feb. 24, 1994
A New Haven teen-ager who allegedly killed an 18-year-old woman last month was apparently with friends when the shooting took place. Recently released police records state 14-year-old Cyrus Griffin robbed Tyshan Albrooks, then l ater that same day while driving around with friends, shot the young woman after chasing her into a Wahlley convenience store. Griffin reportedly confronted Albrooks about what she told police about the robbery.
Tuesday February 24, 1998
BROCKTON, Mass.,_ A Plymouth County Superior Court today acquitted a 23-year-old murder defendant charged with shooting a man during a robbery attempt in Brockton, Mass., more than three years ago.
The jury deliberated less than a day before finding Jean Britto of Brockton innocent in the November 1994 slaying of 22-year-old Shawn Kapustin, who was gunned down near his home in what prosecutors claim was a drug-related holdup attempt.
Britto's co-defendant, 20-year-old Eugene Ivey of Weymouth, Mass., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case last week just as the pair went on trial for a second time.
Their first trial ended in a mistrial almost as soon as it began when a prosecution witness mentioned Ivey's previous criminal record.
Ivey was sentenced to life in prison.
MAN SHOOTS DEAD BROTHER'S GIRLFRIEND AT HIS FUNERAL
February 23, 1998
FT. WAYNE, INDIANA -- A man who allegedly opened fire at his brother's funeral, seriously wounding the deceased's girlfriend, apparently thought she played a role in his brother's death, police said Sunday.
Sunday February 22, 1998
Galveston police are investigating a string of shootings during Mardi Gras celebrations that left one person dead and four wounded late Saturday.
A 19-year-old Houston resident died from gunshot wounds. Fights broke out after the shootings and the events were closed down.
While police were trying to clear the scene, gunfire sounded from a nearby alley. A man attending the Mardi Gras was slightly wounded in the arm.
He said the dead man appeared to have been struck in the head and collapsed against a barricade.
February 21, 1998
KANE COUNTY -- A 17-year-old Aurora Township girl who has eluded authorities for more than a year on active warrants of home invasion and residential burglary is now being sought by Kane County sheriff's police for questioning in Wednesday's shooting death of 17-year-old George Madrigal of South Union Street.
Lorina Gonzales of 1232 S. Pleasant Pl. was reportedly the last person to see Madrigal alive. His body was found on a bedroom floor of her residence by Kane County sheriff's police at about 2:30 a.m. Madrigal suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, which police said may have been self-inflicted.
Kane County officials, who were notified about the shooting by Gonzales' mother, said Gonzales managed to flee the home before police arrived.
Saturday February 21, 1998
The FBI has added a new suspect to its ``10 Most Wanted Fugitives'' list.
He is Tony Ray Amati, a native of Carbondale, Ill., who has been charged by Las Vegas authorities with three handgun murders. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Amati is white, 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 145 pounds and has brown hair and green eyes. He has used a number of aliases, including Phillip D. Gitlitz, Anthony Ray Jones, Debon D. Restivio and Shane W. Wade.
The FBI says Amati should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and should be approached by law enforcement officers ``with extreme caution.''
Information about Amati, along with photographs, is available at http://www.fbi.gov, the FBI's Internet Home Page.
Las Vegas authorities have charged Amati with three murders in a three-month period: Michael Motta was shot and killed in a parking lot in May 1996. A block away two months later, John Garcia was shot to death in his garage. Three weeks later, Keith Dyer was shot fatally outside his apartment.
Amati is the 452nd person to be placed on the ``10 Most Wanted Fugitives'' list. He replaced Thang Thanh Nguyen, charged with murder, burglary and robbery, who was arrested in Vietnam by Vietnamese authorities and returned to the United States in January.
February 20, 1998
FOREST PARK -- A 23-year-old Forest Park man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday for the fatal shooting of a Maywood man over a $45 debt.
According to prosecutors, Ferguson and Earl Johnson saw Patterson and his two younger brothers walking in Maywood the night of Dec. 4, 1994. After Ferguson and Johnson called Patterson's name, police said, Patterson turned and the two men fired a volley of shots at him before fleeing. One of the shots struck Patterson in the heart.
According to police, Ferguson and Johnson said they shot Patterson because he had refused to pay a $45 debt he owed Johnson.
Johnson, who was convicted after a trial in 1995, was sentenced late last year to 45 years in prison.
February 19, 1998
A teenage girl was fatally shot in the back Wednesday night on a West Side sidewalk.
The girl remained unidentified Wednesday night, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
According to preliminary reports filed with the first deputy police superintendent's office, the 14-year-old girl was standing on the sidewalk with friends in the 2600 block of West 25th Street when shots rang out shortly before 8 p.m.
Witnesses told police that the girl was shot once in the back before she collapsed.
She was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
BONDSMEN MAY FACE IMPERSONATION CHARGES
HAWTHORNE, Calif.,_ The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office will decide this week whether to file charges of impersonating a police officer against two bounty hunters who accidentally shot the wrong man.
February 17, 1998
ELGIN -- Authorities Monday were continuing their investigation into the deaths of an Elgin couple, although police said early indications suggest possible murder-suicide.
Elgin police officials said Raymundo Diaz, 30, may have shot his 29-year-old wife Maria before turning the gun on himself.
Friday February 20, 1998
Convicted killer Michael Edward Long has been executed by lethal injection for the 1987 murders of a 24- year-old female co-worker and her 5-year-old son.
Long waived the opportunity to file a last-minute appeal. He said last week, ``I'm ready to get out of hell and go to heaven.''
The 35-year-old inmate was the 10th Oklahoma killer to die by lethal injection since the state resumed executions in 1990.
Long admitted killing 24-year-old Sheryl Sandra Graber and her 5- year-old son, Andrew, on April 7, 1987, after Graber refused to have sex with him. They worked together at a floral shop at Muskogee.
Police said Graber was shot twice and stabbed 31 times. Her son was shot and stabbed because he was a witness.
February 18, 1998
LAKE COUNTY -- Lake County sheriff's police were looking Tuesday for whoever opened fire on a home near Gurnee.
The shooting occurred at 11:50 p.m. Monday near Gurnee, according to Sgt. Scott Robbin of the sheriff's office. He said the family, which includes teenage children, was asleep when the gunfire woke them.
Robbin said at least five shots were fired, including one that penetrated a kitchen window on the side of the house. He said police recovered five casings.
According to Robbin, the police have responded to this address in the past for juvenile problems, although they have no motive for Monday's drive-by shooting.
February 18, 1998
A Cook County jury on Tuesday declined to impose the death penalty on a Near North Side man convicted of murder in the shooting death of a businessman two years ago.
The jury deliberated about 45 minutes before reaching a decision against the death penalty for Dennis Soto, 41.
Soto and two other men were indicted in 1996 for the Jan. 9, 1996, slaying of Ashwani Pande, 44. The other defendants, Richard Dyches, 46, a book publisher, and Anthony Spencer, 35, are awaiting trial.
Assistant State's Attorneys Maryanne Mlikotic and Linus Kelecius contended Dyches arranged for Pande to be killed after their business deal began to unravel.
Pande's bullet-riddled body was found in an alley in the 4200 block of West Arthington Street.
Soto admitted that Pande had been lured to Dyches' apartment on the Near North Side, where he was shot once in the head.
Pande did not die, though, and after an attempt to kill him with a heroin overdose failed, he was bundled into a car, driven to the West Side alley and shot twice in the chest and four times in the back, police said.
According to prosecutors, Soto helped take Pande to the West Side after he was shot.
February 18, 1998
A Cook County jury on Tuesday declined to impose the death penalty on a Near North Side man convicted of murder in the shooting death of a businessman two years ago.
The jury deliberated about 45 minutes before reaching a decision against the death penalty for Dennis Soto, 41.
Soto and two other men were indicted in 1996 for the Jan. 9, 1996, slaying of Ashwani Pande, 44. The other defendants, Richard Dyches, 46, a book publisher, and Anthony Spencer, 35, are awaiting trial.
Assistant State's Attorneys Maryanne Mlikotic and Linus Kelecius contended Dyches arranged for Pande to be killed after their business deal began to unravel.
Pande's bullet-riddled body was found in an alley in the 4200 block of West Arthington Street.
Soto admitted that Pande had been lured to Dyches' apartment on the Near North Side, where he was shot once in the head.
Pande did not die, though, and after an attempt to kill him with a heroin overdose failed, he was bundled into a car, driven to the West Side alley and shot twice in the chest and four times in the back, police said.
According to prosecutors, Soto helped take Pande to the West Side after he was shot.
Associated Press February 16, 1998
FT. WAYNE, Ind. -- Tricia Tippmann was just starting her first full day as a waitress at a Bob Evans restaurant when a gunman burst into the eatery, taking the 17-year-old and eight others hostage.
For more than two hours, Tippmann huddled on the floor in fear, praying and wondering whether the fidgety gunman, identified by police as Jody Sinclair, 41, of Lansing, Mich., would shoot her.
About two hours into the standoff, as police sharpshooters kept watch outside the restaurant, Sinclair vanished into a back room, and Tippmann made a run for it. She darted out an emergency exit.
A half-hour later, after Sinclair fired a shot into one of the restaurant's walls, the standoff ended without injury when police swarmed in and found him in a back room with two female hostages. He was arrested and taken to a hospital for observation.
On Sunday, Sinclair was being held without bond in the Allen County Jail. He is scheduled to be charged Tuesday with carjacking, burglary, intimidation , criminal recklessness and nine counts of criminal confinement.
He also is wanted in Michigan for questioning in the robbery of a pharmacy and two banks.
Police say Saturday's hostage situation developed after the suspect led them on a chase on Interstate Highway 69, during which he fired shots at a pursuing officer's car. No one was injured in that shooting.
Officers brought the car to a halt when "stop sticks" they had placed on the road deflated his vehicle's tires.
The suspect then commandeered a van at a nearby rest stop and continued on the highway, exiting a highway ramp a short time later when officers tried to place more tire-puncturing devices in his path.
He then pulled into the Bob Evans restaurant, which was occupied by 17 employees and customers, nine of whom fled in the first minutes of the standoff.
February 15, 1998
CICERO -- Cicero police on Saturday were investigating a shooting in the western suburb that left one Chicago man dead and another critically wounded.
Police found Shone Jones, 23, lying wounded in the driveway of an AAMCO transmission shop in Cicero early Thursday evening. Jones was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, where he was pronounced dead.
In the transmission shop, police found Torrance Jordan, 23, with wounds to his leg. He was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, where he was admitted in critical condition.
According to Cicero Police, a gunman entered the shop and started shooting at the two men.
February 14, 1998
In Chicago, a masked gunman burst into the office of a Teamster's Union steward at the McCormic Place lakefront exposition hall, fired one shot and fled.
"Get out of town," the intruder shouted before fleeing the chief steward's office of Teamsters Local 714.
February 14, 1998
In Spokane, Washington, an hour after 200 people prayed and dropped rose petals from a bridge to remember five women apparently slain by a serial killer; police said there was a sixth victim.
All six victims may have been involved in drugs, prostitution or both, said a commander of a city-county task force investigating the killings.
The women all died of gunshot wounds, and their bodies were found in rural areas.
SUSPECT SHOT AFTER HOSTAGE INCIDENT
SALEM, Mass., Feb. 12 (UPI) _ Bank robbery suspect Chad Austin, to say the least, picked the wrong house to hide in while trying to get away from pursuing police.
Austin allegedly robbed a bank in Portsmouth, N.H., Wednesday and led police on a bullet-punctuated chase to Salem, Mass., where he crashed his car and took refuge in home owned by Essex County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Paul Hardy.
Police say Austin held Hardy and the officer's twin 4-year-old sons Kyle and Kevin hostage in a tense five-hour standoff.
After an FBI hostage negotiator using a telephone helped Hardy convince Austin to release the two boys, SWAT team members saw Hardy pummel Austin inside the house before the veteran corrections officer jumped to safety from a first-floor window.
Police then set off a stun grenade and stormed the house, shooting Austin in the thigh.
Sheriff Frank Cousins said ``it's safe to say the suspect picked the wrong house.'' Cousins says Hardy, as a jail guard, had been trained in ways of subduing inmates.
Austin, a 24-year-old Concord, N.H., resident with a history of petty crimes, was under police guard today in stable condition at Salem Hospital. He is facing arraignment on a variety of charges.
February 10, 1998
CHICAGO -- A man who stopped his car at a carwash on Chicago's West Side was shot to death Monday when a pedestrian opened fire, according to police.
Brian Geans, 19, along with unidentified female and male passengers, pulled into a carwash on North Ave. about 4:40 p.m. when the shots were fired.
Geans, who was shot several times in the head, attempted to drive southbound on Mason Avenue, but became unresponsive. A passenger in the Oldsmobile Cutlass slid over and drove to the 1300 block of North Austin Boulevard, when police arrived. Geans was dead on the scene, and the two passengers were uninjured.
The shooting was still under investigation late Monday.
MAN SUSPECTED OF KILLING THREE
KILLEEN, Texas, Feb. 8 (UPI) _ Killeen police have transferred a triple homicide suspect to Bell County jail a day after he allegedly killed a woman and two children.
Police say 37-year-old year old Christopher Black is charged with murder in the deaths of a 36-year-old mother, a toddler and an infant.
Police say a caller on Saturday reported a shooting and when officers responded to the scene, they found the suspect in a front yard and subdued him.
When they entered the residence they found Gwendolyn Black, 18-month- old daughter Katrease Houston and three-month-old Christina Black.
TWO TEENS ARRESTED FOR BUS SHOOTING
ANAHEIM, Calif., Two teenage boys have been arrested for allegedly shooting at an Orange County Transit Authority bus in Anaheim and wounding a family of four.
Anaheim police say a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were taken into custody late Thursday on suspicion of aggravated assault and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Police say they made contact with the teenagers during an unrelated investigation, then linked them to the shooting. Detectives recovered a firearm during the course of their investigation.
The motive for the attack wasn't immediately known.
3 SHOT IN FRONT OF CHILDREN
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.,_ Police say they are holding a 41- year-old father for allegedly shooting and killing his wife and 18-year- old daughter and critically wounding the daughter's boyfriend.
Police say they arrested Lo Pao Moua without incident as he was driving through town and recovered a gun.
MAN SENTENCED FOR COP'S SHOOTING
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 (UPI) _ A Los Angeles Superior Court judge sentenced a defendant he described as a ``bully'' to 28 years plus life in prison for shooting a rookie police officer in the eye during a routine traffic stop in 1996.
Prosecutors say 48-year-old Raul Jimenez must first serve the entire 28 years and at least seven years of his life sentence before he's eligible for a parole hearing.
Cicinelli lost an eye in the attack and has undergone several surgeries, including a procedure two days ago that left him unable to attend the Jimenez sentencing.
Prosecutors say Cicinelli was shot in the eye on Dec. 14, 1996 during a traffic stop in South-Central Los Angeles, and four more times as he fell to the ground.
February 8, 1998
MAYWOOD -- A Cook County judge sentenced a Maywood man to 30 years in prison Friday for shooting into a crowd of students outside Proviso East High School in 1996. Four teens were injured, none seriously.
A jury convicted DuBose in October of three counts of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm for firing at least five gunshots into a crowd of about 100 students outside the school.
February 7, 1998
A 22-year-old Bloomingdale man is claiming that he fatally shot Anthony Burse of Chicago in self-defense last year after a drug deal went bad.
Burse, 20, was found with three bullet wounds in his back, including at least one fired at close range.
If convicted, Woodard faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.
MAN GETS 33 YEARS IN LANDLORD SLAYING
AURORA -- Lorenzo Gonzalez of Aurora was sentenced to 33 years in prison Friday for his role in the January 1996 murder of Aurora landlord Ralph "Bud" Stadler.
A jury in December found Gonzalez, 20, guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of the 71-year-old Aurora landlord, a decorated World War II fighter pilot and father of six. His body was found at the bottom of the basement stairs of his Aurora office.
All that was found missing from the home office was Stadler's wallet. It was found later that day near Gonzalez's home.
James Lewis, 24, the co-defendant and triggerman in Stadler's murder, pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced to 25 years.
February 7, 1998
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The hospital where a professional boxer receiving cancer treatment was shot to death offered a $50,000 reward Friday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
Reuben Bell, 24, an outpatient at the hospital's cancer facility, was shot Thursday. Police said he seemed to be targeted, although five other people also were wounded.
The gunman waited in the lobby of the Washington Cancer Institute until Bell arrived at about 11 a.m., then began shooting, police said. Two of the wounded were treated Thursday and released. The other three were released Friday.
Bell was acquitted last spring of a first-degree murder charge.
Business owners along a stretch of Sheridan Road that cuts through North Chicago are no strangers to crime. Just 10 days ago, a gunman robbed the First Midwest Bank, 1881 Sheridan Rd., of $3,700.
But that familiarity with crime made the owners no less excited as news spread Wednesday that the alleged perpetrator in the 1995 daytime murder of Bill Brady, a fellow business owner, had finally been charged.
On Wednesday, a Lake County grand jury indicted Reginald Gordon, 20, on first-degree murder charges in connection with the robbery and slaying of Brady at his store, the 26 Lottery Stop, 1806 Sheridan Rd.
Gordon, of North Chicago, has been imprisoned at the Danville Correctional Center since April 1996 for a residential burglary in North Chicago.
He is scheduled to be released in July, but now will be arraigned on the murder charges Feb. 24 before Lake County Judge Christopher Starck.
Because the murder was committed during a robbery, Gordon would be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Associated Press February 2, 1998
FT. WORTH, Texas -- On a cold night in December 1995, police say lovers Diane Zamora and David Graham returned from a foggy lake where they left the body of a bludgeoned and shot 16-year-old girl lying in an overgrown field.
According to statements Graham and Zamora allegedly have given police, they lured Jones to a secluded road, Zamora hit the girl with a dumbbell weight, then Graham shot her in the head.
"Now he was telling me the one thing I prized more than anything was taken away," Zamora said, according to the statement, parts of which have been published in media accounts. "I screamed at him, `Kill her! Kill her!' He was just so scared he wasn't about to say no to me."
A 29-year-old Berwyn man, who police said had been drinking and feuding with his family, remained in critical condition Thursday evening, shot by an officer after he allegedly fired a shotgun from his home.
John Kelly, had been sitting in his car about 2 a.m. Thursday when police approached him. He then ran into his home and starting firing a shotgun from inside.
An estimated 20 shots were fired, and a Berwyn police officer was slightly injured when a shotgun pellet grazed his forehead. After about an hour, Kelly left through a rear door of his home with the shotgun, police said. When he saw a Berwyn police officer and started to aim the weapon, the officer fired his gun twice, hitting Kelly.
Kelly has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated discharge of a weapon and armed violence and unlawful use of a weapon.
Kelly is believed to have been in prison before and that numerous outstanding arrest warrants had been issued for his alleged failure to appear in Cook County Circuit Court on drunken-driving charges.
Court overturns death row guilty plea
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.,__A death row inmate who caused a three-state shooting spree will get to take back his guilty plea, the Illinois Supreme Court has decided.
The state's high court ruled today that McLean County officials must allow Ernest Jamison to rescind his plea of guilty to charges of murder and armed robbery for a 1995 slaying at a gas station near Bloomington.
Jamison received a death sentence for murder, and a 30-year prison term for armed robbery. His attempts to withdraw his plea have been rejected.
But the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Benjamin Miller, agreed with Jamison that his judge did not inform him of the rules applicable to guilty pleas and appeals at the time of his sentencing in 1996.
Jamison was arrested for the June 19, 1995, slaying of Susan Gilmore at a Quick Pic convenience store and gas station in McLean. Prosecutors say Jamison had been on a rampage through Tennessee and Missouri for nearly a week, and was headed north on Interstate 55 when he happened to be at the gas station. Officials say he was trying to take Gilmore's car and he killed her when she resisted.
Jamison, who shot himself in the head when police tried to arrest him, now has his case return to McLean County court, where he will be properly informed of his rights and allowed to rescind his guilty plea.
Jamison's attorneys would not say whether they would seek a new plea deal that would spare his life or try to take the case to trial.
HARVEY -- A Cook County judge set bond of $1 million for a Harvey man and ordered a Markham man held without bond Friday in connection with Thursday night's shooting of a Harvey police officer.
Safford and Antoine Pate, 21, of Harvey were both charged Friday with one count of attempted first-degree murder. Safford had been released from prison two months ago after serving half of a 10-year sentence for robbery, Harvey Police Detective Merritt Gentry said.
Marcano asked for identification and recognized Safford as a suspect wanted in connection with a Phoenix robbery. He said Marcano was shot as he tried to radio for assistance.
Dolton police on Thursday charged four Dolton men, and are seeking a fifth, in the fatal shooting of a cabdriver earlier this week.
Patrick Carter, 18, Mario Stroud, 19, Brian McClain, 19, and Audwin Shelton, 18, were charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in connection with the fatal shooting of Edward Bahard, 58, of Michigan City, a six-year veteran at Howard's Cab Co. in Calumet City, according to Dolton Police Sgt. Steve Schmiedl.
Bahard's body was found Tuesday night in his cab at 156th Street and Dobson Avenue in the south suburb. His wallet and the taxi's till were missing.
Bahard is the second driver from the Howard's Cab Co. to be killed in a month. Driver Michael Ryan, 37, was shot and killed in Hammond Jan. 13.
January 23, 1998
A Harvey police officer was shot in the face at point-blank range early Thursday and survived to call for help and identify one of the suspects.
Marcano asked one of the suspects for identification and recognized him as a suspect wanted in connection with a Phoenix robbery investigation, Arnold said.
As Marcano was reaching for his police radio, two shots were fired. Both men fled, Arnold said.
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