THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506060298
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
It started with menacing phone calls and suspicious-looking cars driving by. But for a pizza delivery driver who fatally shot a would-be robber last month, the threats seemed to escalate when his car was torched.
Constantly watching his back, the driver has suffered non-stop harassment, a friend said in an interview Monday.
``He gets calls every day . . . threats,'' said the friend, who asked not to be identified. ``(He's) moving around a lot.''
The driver, who in an earlier interview also asked not to be named, could not be reached for comment.
The threats, his friend said, most likely are paybacks for the shooting that claimed the life of the robbery suspect, 25-year-old Cordell Lamont Marshall.
No charges were filed against the driver.
Police said Marshall and two other men tried to rob two Chanello's drivers when they went on a delivery in the 700 block of East 27th Street in Park Place just before 11 p.m. on May 18.
During the holdup one of the delivery men apparently shot Marshall, who died at a hospital a short time later. The other suspects fled, police said. No one was arrested.
His friend said the threats began after the driver's name was used in television and radio news reports.
The latest incident of apparent revenge occurred about 2:15 a.m. Friday when the driver discovered his car had been torched in the Chanello's parking lot in the 1300 block of DeBree Ave., police reported Monday.
The friend, a former Chanello's driver, said he had dropped by to visit his friend at the store when the fire was reported.
Payback, they thought.
``That was the first thing I thought about,'' he said. ``I put two and two together. I thought this was related to the same thing.''
A security patrolman working nearby told police that he saw someone walking across the parking lot moments before flames erupted from the driver's Ford Mustang. The patrolman then alarmed Chanello's employees of the fire.
The car's interior was damaged heavily. About 10 other cars were in the lot when the fire was reported, the friend said, but none was reported damaged.
Arson investigators were investigating the incident.
Because of the threats, the friend said he was not surprised by the fire. But he is unsure how far someone will go to exact revenge.
What should be a hassle-free service, the friend said, is turning into a hazardous job, with parts of town being rejected for delivery and crooks robbing drivers for a small amount of money or food.
Chanello's has a no-weapons policy, he said, but it is time for the workers to defend themselves.
``Right now it's rough,'' he said. ``I think delivery drivers should be allowed to carry weapons.''
He said it seems pointless to rob drivers because they usually carry no more than $20.
``It really isn't worth it,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: ARSON FIRE ASSAULT ROBBERY by CNB