DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160539

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: STAFFORD, VA.                     LENGTH:   41 lines

SLAIN SUSPECT IN ROBBERY WAS STATE PRISON GUARD

An armed man killed by police in a botched supermarket robbery was a Virginia prison guard and the son of a former Petersburg police captain.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Department identified the dead man as Desmond Vaughan, 31, of Petersburg, a corrections officer at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Police said Vaughan and his brother, Joel Vaughan, 29, also of Petersburg, entered a Food Lion supermarket Monday night wearing masks and carrying semiautomatic weapons.

As the two demanded money from cashiers, police showed up, alerted by a silent alarm pendant that all Food Lion employees wear. A shootout ensued after the brothers took a hostage, police said.

Joel Vaughan was wounded, as were the hostage and a bystander. None of the injuries was thought to be life-threatening, officials said.

``The gunman really left us no alternative,'' said sheriff's Capt. Charles Jett.

Police did not identify the hostage or the bystander.

Authorities said the Vaughans are the sons of Capt. Willie Vaughan, a 25-year member of the Petersburg police who died of a heart attack in 1995.

David Botkins, a state Department of Corrections spokesman, said Desmond Vaughan had worked at Greensville for six months and had passed a criminal background check before he was hired.

Authorities have not yet determined how many gunshots were fired or whether the bullets that injured the hostage and bystander were fired by police or the suspects.

Joel Vaughan was treated for a bullet wound to the leg at Mary Washington Hospital and released to police.

He was being held without bond on charges of abduction, armed robbery, use of a firearm during a robbery and attempted capital murder of a police officer.

Investigators also are working with other jurisdictions to determine whether the Vaughans can be linked to other robberies.

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