THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501030095
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 173 lines
John C. Salvi III, charged with Saturday's attack on the Hillcrest Clinic, is expected to face a judge for the first time early this morning.
Salvi, 22, spent Monday alone in a cell at the Norfolk City Jail, where deputies said he has refused all requests by reporters for interviews. But he has been talking - to police.
Jail personnel describe Salvi as ``alert,'' ``rational'' and ``communicative.''
``Basically, he looks relatively scared,'' said George Schaefer, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department who has spoken with him several times. ``He tries that tough guy look. . . . but I detect a certain fright. This is someone who has not spent a lot of time in jail.''
Salvi did ask that, after today's hearing, he be allowed to see a Catholic priest.
Salvi has been interviewed, at least two times - by local police in connection with the Hillcrest shooting, and by Massachusetts authorities who consider him the lone suspect in last week's killing of two abortion clinic workers. Salvi was questioned for more than five hours Saturday.
Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said he had no information about any questioning of Salvi, but he described the suspect as having been ``calm throughout. . . . He is talking to people and is sociable.''
Salvi, a student hairdresser from Hampton Beach, N.H., is scheduled to go before Judge Reid M. Spencer in General District Court as early as 8 a.m. today.
He is slated to answer for a single criminal act: firing a weapon into an occupied building. That felony charge stems from Saturday's attack on the East Little Creek Road clinic in the Bel Aire Building, where at least 23 bullets were fired into the lobby. No one was injured, even though two security guards were downstairs and more than a dozen people were in the clinic on the second floor.
Sources said Monday that Virginia authorities might drop the local charges - although they could refile them later.
Salvi could then immediately be arrested on the murder charges against him in Brookline, Mass., where two clinic workers were killed and five others were injured in two attacks Friday.
Salvi could be back in Massachusetts tonight if he agrees to waive his right to an extradition hearing.
He might never stand trial in Norfolk, although the local charges would be waiting for future prosecution - especially if no conviction was obtained in Massachusetts.
Donald Spitz, director of Chesapeake-based Pro-Life Virginia, has offered to help Salvi obtain legal counsel. As of Monday, authorities said he did not have a local lawyer.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson condemned the two clinic attacks. ``One or two fanatics do not speak for the pro-life movement,'' he told his audience on ``The 700 Club'' program Monday. While millions of Americans oppose abortion, ``they do not and I do not believe the answer is to go out and murder abortionists.''
Virginia Attorney General James Gilmore III condemned the violence, and said the state will deal with it harshly, ``just like any other crime.''
``We're working to make Virginia safer, whether it's an attack like this or on a 7-Eleven or any other kind of business,'' said Gilmore, who cited recent get-tough measures like the state's abolition of parole.
``This is not an abortion issue; this is a crime issue,'' he said.
Gilmore's statement enraged Katherine Spillar of the Feminist Majority's Clinic Defense Project.
``That statement shows total ignorance of what is behind this kind of violence,'' she said. ``This is not common street crime. These people are fanatics and extremists. They are willing to be martyrs. The question is, who is putting them up to it? Because those are the people who have got to be found before this can be stopped.''
Police offered no new information Monday about why Norfolk and the Hillcrest clinic were targeted.
However, local authorities said literature - including color photos of aborted fetuses - was found in Salvi's pickup truck in Norfolk, as were maps of Norfolk, Richmond and Brookline, Mass.
There are similarities between the shooting in Norfolk and the earlier attacks in Brookline:
The weapon - In all three clinic attacks, the gunman used a semiautomatic,
The bag - Each time, he carried a black bag and pulled weapons from it.
The questions - In Brookline, the gunman entered a Planned Parenthood clinic first and a Preterm Health Services later. He asked employees to confirm where he was. ``Is this Planned Parenthood?'' ``Is this Preterm?'' Told yes, he pulled out a gun and opened fire.
In Norfolk, too, he asked a question first. But here, he said he was looking for a Burger King restaurant. He then returned a moment later and opened fire.
The description - The gunman wore dark clothing in all the attacks and was described as young with dark hair.
And then there is the interesting link between the places involved: Salvi was living in Hampton Beach, N.H.; the first round of shooting occurred in Norfolk County, Mass.; Salvi came to Hampton Roads and was arrested in Norfolk. Even police have wondered at that.
The Washington Post said investigators believe Salvi drove south on Interstate 95 into Virginia and spent the night in Emporia, just south of Petersburg, before heading east on U.S. Route 58 to Norfolk. Local authorities could not confirm or deny that report, however.
It also is unclear when Salvi reached Hillcrest.
The gunman may have waited for an anti-abortion picket at Hillcrest to end before he opened fire.
Police and clinic workers have said about six anti-abortion protesters were still on the sidewalk in front of the Bel Aire Building when the shooting occurred at 11:54 a.m. But participants in Saturday's protests said they had already packed up and left when shots were fired.
A man who said he was in his car at a nearby McDonald's restaurant Saturday morning said he saw the pickup truck the gunman was driving go by twice before the shooting.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he saw the protest break up while he was in the McDonald's. Moments later, he heard ``muffled shots. . .
Salvi was stopped by Norfolk police three blocks from Hillcrest, moments after the shooting.
While the general public may wonder why a clinic in Hampton Roads would be targeted, folks active in the anti-abortion movement are not as surprised.
There are hundreds of abortion providers around the nation, but Hillcrest has earned a place in the lore of abortion battles. It is to some a Bull Run where battles have been fought in the past and will - they pledge - be fought again.
The clinic has been the target of picketing, protests and demonstrations since it opened in 1973. An arsonist set a fire there in 1983 and a pipe bomb exploded near the clinic a year later.
While others view the violent acts as crimes, within the most fervent circles of the anti-abortion movement, they are celebrated.
Police in Norfolk and in Brookline, as well as anti-abortion activists in Hampton Roads, said Salvi was not known among the dedicated groups who routinely picket abortion facilities.
Norfolk was recently the subject of a full-page feature article in November's issue of ``Life Advocate'' magazine. The article was headlined: ``Abortionist shooting spurs another to quit,'' and focused on a Hillcrest doctor who said he was quitting because of the death of Dr. David Gunn, who was shot to death outside a Florida clinic in March 1993.
The feature included pictures of wanted posters mentioning the Hillcrest clinic.
And, last month, a new wanted poster was being circulated offering a $5,000 reward for ``information leading to the arrest and conviction'' of a man said to be the owner of ``abortuaries in D.C., Maryland and Norfolk.'' The poster was being circulated by ``Virginia/Maryland Citizens for Justice, the Committee to Stop Genocide.'' It gives a Norfolk post office box as an address. MEMO: Related stories on page A1, A2 and B1.
THE VICTIMS
Four of the five people wounded in Friday's attacks in Brookline
remained hospitalized Monday.
Anjanna Agrawal, 30, of Cambridge, Mass., was shot in the abdomen and
chest. She underwent five hours of surgery Friday. She was listed in
serious but stable condition Monday.
Brian Murray, 22, of Hingham, Mass., was shot multiple times in the
chest and abdomen. He underwent five hours of surgery Friday. He was
listed in serious but stable condition Monday.
Antonio Hernandez, 32, of Worcester, Mass., was shot in the buttocks,
chest and abdomen. He was listed in good condition Monday.
Jane Sauer, 29, of Cambridge, Mass., was shot in the back and pelvis.
She was listed in good condition Monday.
The fifth injured person, Richard J. Seron, 45, was released from the
hospital Sunday. Seron, the security guard at Preterm Health Services -
the second clinic hit, where one woman died and another was wounded -
was shot in the hand and arm.
Two people were killed:
Shannon Lowney, 25, of Arlington, Mass., the receptionist at the
Planned Parenthood clinic.
Leanne Nichols, 38, of Salem, N.H., the receptionist at the Preterm
Health Services clinic.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Salvi
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING MURDER ABORTION CLINIC by CNB