THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050429
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
A Roman Catholic priest who visited John C. Salvi III Wednesday said Salvi did not express remorse or request to pray or say confession.
``We didn't get into that,'' said the Rev. Walter Barrett of the Basilica of St. Mary in Norfolk, who visited Salvi for about 20 minutes at the Norfolk City Jail.
Salvi is charged with shooting up the Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk, and with killing two abortion clinic employees in Massachusetts.
The visit was conducted by telephone in a visiting room with thick glass separating the priest from the prisoner. Barrett said Salvi was lucid during their talk, and asked that he visit again.
``He told me he had not eaten for three or four days, and asked if I would talk with the sheriff about getting him some untainted food,'' Barrett said.
Salvi claimed soon after being arrested Saturday that he was suffering from food poisoning.
The rest of the visit, Barrett said, was ``of a spiritual nature'' concerning matters that Barrett refused to discuss.
Barrett frequently visits prisoners at the jail because his church is across the street from the downtown Norfolk facility.
George Schaefer, public affairs officer for the Norfolk Sheriff's Department, said Salvi has prepared a two-page, handwritten statement that Salvi said he wants to release today. Schaefer said he had read the statement but would not discuss it.
Schaefer said that Salvi appeared calmer after his visit with Barrett and seemed ``. . . a little less fearful than he was in the past.''
Salvi was given a Bible by a jail chaplain. And since his incarceration Salvi has purchased playing cards, a thesaurus, potato chips, candy and a bottle of Maalox. ILLUSTRATION: Rev. Barrett
KEYWORDS: CLINIC SHOOTING AFTERMATH ANTI-ABORTION by CNB