
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994                   TAG: 9404170062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GADSDEN, ALA.                                LENGTH: Short

3 KILLED IN ALA. FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT

Three employees of a fast-food restaurant were herded into a walk-in cooler and shot to death early Saturday, police said. A fourth worker, wounded and left for dead, crawled to a phone and called police.

Less than two hours later, police arrested two people and charged them with capital murder. One of the suspects had been fired Monday from the Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken restaurant, police Capt. Jimmie Flanagan said.

Flanagan said robbery was the apparent motive in the killings. "Money was taken and recovered," he said. He didn't disclose the amount.

Authorities believe the shootings occurred after midnight. Bryant Archer, 17, crawled to a phone and called authorities about 12:30 a.m. He was in serious condition Saturday, with multiple gunshot wounds in the chest.

Cuhuatemoc Peraita, 17, and Robert Bryant Melson, 22, were arrested in nearby Rainbow City. Peraita had been fired for absenteeism, police said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB