THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160393
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The man accused of last year's deadly assault on two abortion clinics bought his rifle months in advance and practiced firing bursts at close range a day before the attack, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
John C. Salvi III appeared in Norfolk County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of assault with intent to murder.
The 22-year-old apprentice hairdresser from Hampton, N.H., is charged with killing two people and wounding three others at two family planning clinics in the Boston suburb of Brookline.
Assistant District Attorney John Kivlan described how Salvi bought a
Salvi added a collapsible stock and two large ``banana clip'' magazines taped together to hold hundreds of rounds of hollow-point ammunition, Kivlan said.
A day before the Dec. 30 shootings, witnesses at a Salisbury shooting range watched as Salvi fired burst after burst.
``He was noticed because he fired in a rapid-fire manner and with some accuracy,'' Kivlan said, and because he moved the targets ``closer and closer.''
After the clinic shootings, the fugitive appeared at a Connecticut hair salon, where he called himself ``Dan'' and had his long curly hair cut short as descriptions of him were being broadcast nationwide, Kivlan said.
Salvi was arrested in Norfolk, Va., a day later, after allegedly firing the same rifle at the Hillcrest Clinic. No one was injured in that attack.
Kivlan also said the evidence would show that Salvi had made ``occasional contact'' with anti-abortion groups over the last year to try to sell them photographs. Kivlan said Salvi was not a member of any anti-abortion group.
Salvi, who has been jailed without bail since Jan. 9, faces a maximum sentence of life without parole, the state's mandatory penalty for first-degree murder. Authorities have postponed a decision on whether to seek federal charges that could carry the death penalty. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
John C. Salvi III, left, confers with J.W. Carney, his Boston
attorney, during Wednesday's arraignment in Dedham, Mass. He pleaded
not guilty to murder and assault with intent to murder.
by CNB