DATE: Tuesday, September 2, 1997            TAG: 9709020121

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: FRANKLIN                          LENGTH:   38 lines

FRANKLIN MAN FOUND DEAD; HAD BEEN SHOT IN HEAD AT CLOSE RANGE ALEXANDER LEE WAS SLAIN EARLY SUNDAY MORNING ON SOUTH STREET, POLICE SAY.

Nothing was unusual about Ray Gallop stopping at Alexander Lee's house Sunday morning.

The two men often attended Sunday school together at White Oak Springs Church. That no one answered was not odd, as Lee sometimes worked Sundays.

That Lee's family asked Gallop about Lee's whereabouts was unusual.

By late Sunday, Lee's friends and family got the news: the 38-year-old man was killed along South Street.

Franklin police said Lee was shot in the head at close range about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. He was found in the 1400 block of South Street.

The type of gun the killer used is not known. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday morning. Police are investigating leads and speaking with witnesses.

While reports of shootings have picked up in the small community through the years, murder is still sporadic.

The fact that violence landed 100 yards down the street from Leroy Hardy's home upset the father of 2-, 4- and 6-year-old children. Still, the way things are going, more may follow Lee, Hardy said.

``We have a big drug problem in Franklin,'' the community activist said. ``It would surprise people to know it. We've got a lot of problems in Franklin. People are dying, getting killed, going to hell right around us.''

Lee, known affectionately as Richard, was a smiling man, always with a joke to share, Gallop said.

``He just happened to be somewhere maybe he shouldn't have been,'' Gallop said. ``All we know is that he's gone. And he'll be terribly missed by those of us who knew him.''

Anyone with information can call the Franklin Police Department's crime line at 562-8599. Detective J.L.M. Golman is the investigating officer. KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING FATALITY

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