THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260041
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE AND ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
There was a sense Sunday, shared by the family of one murder victim as well as people on the street, that justice was served when police shot and killed Sammy J. Gary. Gary had been wanted on more than a dozen charges before allegedly gunning down two strangers in less than 24 hours.
``It has spared my kids the heartache of a trial, and for that I'm thankful,'' said Tanya Bernard, whose husband, Paul A. Bernard, was shot to death in a carjacking Saturday at a Kmart on North Military Highway. ``I don't think any jury in the world could have given him what he deserves.''
Jim Bishop, 61, of Norfolk, said he, too, was pleased no court would have to decide Gary's fate.
``At least we don't have to worry about some stupid judge letting him go free because they put the handcuffs on too tight or some other technical tomfoolery,'' Bishop said as he walked through the parking lot of Janaf Shopping Center, where Ann Jungja Lim, 52, a Suffolk Realtor, was killed on Friday.
Gary, 20, of the 1500 block of Ekstine Drive in Portsmouth, was identified by police on Sunday as the man officers shot on Saturday after a chase in Virginia Beach.
His death culminated a bloody, weeklong rampage that left numerous victims. And his life ended as it had begun - violently. In 1979, when Gary was a toddler, his father killed his mother before committing suicide.
In addition to being linked to the fatal shootings at Janaf and Kmart, Gary was sought by police for a brutal attack on three people in Portsmouth last Tuesday. In that incident, a man was shot numerous times while lying on the ground and had to be revived by paramedics.
Police also are examining other unsolved crimes that have occurred since the semiautomatic handgun Gary was carrying was stolen from a car at the Oceanfront on Jan. 6.
``The amount of force he was using was obviously escalating by the day,'' said Mike Carey, a Virginia Beach police spokesman.
The last victim never had a chance.
Paul Bernard, 37, was waiting in his 1984 Ford Thunderbird just outside the entrance to Kmart while his wife and son were shopping inside Saturday. At about 2:15 p.m., a man walked up to the car, pulled a gun and opened fire.
He shot his victim in the face.
Bernard's body was dumped on the pavement and the gunman sped away in the car. Paramedics, arriving moments later, took the critically injured man to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. But it was too late.
Meanwhile, Tanya Bernard and the couple's 13-year-old son, Christopher, had come out of the store. They walked past the crime scene, past the ambulance, past the hubbub of police detectives, just looking for Paul Bernard and their car.
``For a split second, it went through my mind that maybe something had happened to him,'' Tanya said in an interview Sunday at the couple's home. ``But I didn't want to think about it.''
Then she saw her husband's ballcap. It was lying on the pavement near where the car had been parked. Lying in a pool of blood.
``We knew it was bad,'' she said, her voice cracking with emotion as she hugged her son Sunday. ``We knew it was him then.''
Not long afterward, police approached her to confirm what she already feared. Her husband was dead.
Waves of emotion overwhelmed Tanya Sunday as she was comforted by family and tried to understand the unacceptable.
``I'm dying inside,'' she said. ``I don't know quite how to feel. I just know I have to be strong for these kids of mine.''
Paul Bernard had worked at Norshipco since graduating from Indian River High School in 1976. The couple had been married 15 years and had three children, Paul, 14, Nathan, 11, and Christopher.
Paul loved spending time with his family, going to baseball games, NASCAR races and shopping. ``His family was everything . . . He was a wonderful husband and father.''
``We're all victims,'' said Randy Creef, Paul's brother-in-law. ``It makes you realize that every time you walk out of your house you could be a victim.''
Portsmouth police had been trying desperately to get Gary off the street since last Tuesday when he was identified as the suspect in a shooting in the 100 block of Wilson Parkway.
Three people were attacked in that incident, said Amber Whitaker, a Portsmouth police spokeswoman. But one of them, a 24-year-old Chesapeake man, was singled out.
``He was shot when he was laying on the ground,'' Whitaker said. ``That tells you a little more about the kind of person all of us were looking for.''
The name of the victim was not released, but he barely survived. ``The paramedics and doctors deserve a lot of credit,'' she said. ``They basically brought him back.''
Gary was charged with two counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery, one count of malicious wounding, three counts of abduction and seven counts of using a gun while committing a felony. He also was wanted in Norfolk on a forgery charge dating to April.
Whitaker said Detective L. Saunders was on Gary's trail and had followed up numerous leads and tips to Crime Line. But none had brought an arrest. At one point last week, police thought they had located him and the department's tactical response team was dispatched. ``But it didn't pan out, unfortunately,'' she said.
Gary's luck ran out shortly after the Kmart shooting when an off-duty Norfolk police officer, Jim Sullivan, spotted the gunman in the stolen car. He radioed for help.
Virginia Beach police caught up with Gary when he abandoned the stolen car, after it jumped a curb, blowing out a tire. Gary jumped a fence and then fired his gun at pursuing officers. They shot back, and he was killed.
Carey on Sunday identified the officers as Jared R. Legg and Rafael Vargas. Neither was injured, although a bullet fired by Gary passed through one of Legg's pants legs.
``As in all police shootings, an investigation is being done by the Police Department and the commonwealth's attorney,'' Carey said.
He stressed, however, that all information indicates the officers acted properly.
``It appears they did not have a choice,'' Carey said. ``They were fired on and they returned fire to defend themselves. They gave the man an opportunity to drop his weapon and he didn't. And the fact that one officer was grazed with a bullet shows how close a call he had.''
Police did not immediately know that the man officers shot was Gary. The gunman had no identification.
Police confirmed his identity with fingerprints.
Carey said ballistics tests will be done to see if bullets from the two homicides match the gun recovered from Gary.
Shoppers were out in force both at Janaf and the Kmart on Sunday, despite the twin murders. People who work in the stores said no place is immune to such violence.
``That's something that's going to happen; something that can happen anytime, anywhere,'' said Judy Thomspon, 34, a clerk at the Fashion Place in Janaf. ``It's just the way of the world these days.''
A few doors down, Mike McKenna, 29, the owner of Party Land, said some of his employees were upset after the shooting. ``But once they caught the guy, everyone seemed more relaxed,'' he said.
``I'm not nervous at all, actually,'' McKenna said. ``Whenever you're near a big city - if you can call Norfolk a big city - your going to have this happening.''
At the Kmart, shoppers went about their business, although some paused to look at the spot Bernard was shot.
``It's creepy,'' Marquita Ericksen, 17, of Virginia Beach said as she clutched her boyfriend's arm. ``You start wondering about anyone you see out here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
SAMMY J. GARY, 20, who was shot to death when he opened fire on
officers after a chase, was wanted for an attack Tuesday on three
people in Portsmouth. He also was wanted by Norfolk police.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING CARJACKING ROBBERY NORFOLK POLICE
DEPARTMENT VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTEMNT PORTSMOUTH POLICE
DEPARTMENT by CNB