THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280248
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The parents of John C. Salvi III, the man accused of killing two women at abortion clinics in the Boston area and shooting up a Norfolk clinic last month, said Friday that their son had a long history of strange behavior, and that they regretted not getting psychiatric help for him.
``If we had gotten help for him, maybe this terrible tragedy might never have happened,'' John C. Salvi II said at a news conference Friday with his wife, Anne Marie.
The elder Salvi said their son had once imagined an evil black bird in their living room, had held an all all-night prayer vigil to ward off evil from his apartment and had disrupted a Mass last Christmas Eve. The clinics were attacked six days later, on Dec. 30.
The next day, he was arrested in an attack on the Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk.
A few days after his arrest, the younger Salvi had his lawyer make public a rambling letter in which he asked for the death penalty if he was convicted and said he would become a priest if acquitted.
Salvi's parents, who live in Naples, Fla., came to Boston to testify before a grand jury, which is to decide whether to indict Salvi and move his case from Brookline District Court to Superior Court.
The Salvis said they held Friday morning's news conference to offer their condolences to the families of the victims and to urge other parents of disturbed children to seek professional help before it is too late.
``John has been obsessed with his Catholic faith and has had delusions about conspiracies against Catholics, the end of the world, the need for currency printed by the church and the presence of an anti-Christ among us,'' the elder Salvi said.
``When John lived with us in Naples, he once told us that he had seen a big, black, evil birdlike figure over his shoulder in our family room,'' he said. ``As a result, he once again took up his Bible reading and prayer more intensely than he ever had before.''
He added: ``There was another incident in the past when John said he had seen evil in an apartment he had just moved into, and he stayed awake all night in prayer to keep it away from him. He soon moved out.
``Recently, we were shocked this Christmas Eve when, in the middle of Mass, John suddenly stopped praying, started mumbling and walked to the front of the altar and began addressing the congregation, disrupting and upsetting everyone.
``We now can recognize that John's problems were more serious than we believed.''
Salvi's court-appointed lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., has indicated that he may use an insanity defense. After his client was arraigned Jan. 9 on state murder charges, Carney said, ``At the trial, the essential question will not be what happened, but why.''
Salvi was initially charged with the shooting at the Hillcrest Clinic. The charge of shooting into an occupied building was set aside by prosecutors, however, so Salvi could be returned to Massachusetts to stand trial on murder charges. The Norfolk charges can be refiled later. ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press
Anne Marie Salvi, above, is the mother of John C. Salvi III, right,
who is accused of killing two women at abortion clinics.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION CLINIC SHOOTING JOHN SALVI by CNB