Suspect Killed Two Officers and Dispatcher in 2003
JAY REEVES
Associated Press Writer
FAYETTE, Ala. - Memories of the chilling massacre at the Fayette Police Department aren’t easy to erase.
Workers repaired most of the damage after flying bullets tore chunks out of ceilings and walls as a car theft suspect killed two officers and a radio dispatcher in the early morning of June 7, 2003. Yet some of the new paint doesn’t quite match the old, and visitors sometimes ask where the bodies were found.
But the little department -- with 13 officers ''on a good day,’' according to acting chief Sam Black -- is doing all it can to put the pain and memories behind.
''Everybody just wants it all to be over so they go on and do their jobs,’' Black said.
The end is getting nearer.
A judge has set sentencing on Sept. 30 for Devin Moore, 20, who faces a possible death sentence after being convicted of capital murder this month in the killings of two officers, Arnold Strickland and James Crump, and radio dispatcher Leslie ''Ace’’ Mealer.
Although jurors recommended Moore be put to death, a judge could either accept the suggestion or sentence Moore to life imprisonment without parole. If sentenced to death, an appeal is automatic and could take years.
Jurors rejected defense claims that the slayings were caused by a combination of childhood abuse, mental illness and Moore’s obsessive playing of the video game ''Grand Theft Auto.’' The jury toured the scene of the crime -- the one-story brick police station -- during his trial.
Rural Alabama Rolice Department Tries to Move on After SlayingsBlack said there were lots of tough days in the months after the murders, and Moore’s trial brought back painful, harsh memories. Black and six others remained with the department, which serves a town of 4,900 people, but others moved on following the slayings.
''The Fayette Police Department has endured great hardships since the murders of Strickland, Crump and Mealer,’' the town’s officers said in a statement issued last week. ''Officers ... wish to move the department forward and provide the people of Fayette with the protection they deserve.’'
Part of the healing process was simply repairing the physical damage left by the slayings, which prosecutors were able to reconstruct in minute detail through a combination of physical evidence and Moore’s confession.
Moore told authorities he grabbed Strickland’s gun and opened fire in a small room as he was being booked on a stolen auto charge. He was arrested hours later in Mississippi after fleeing in a stolen patrol car.
The old booking room where Strickland was shot to death is now used for storage and auxiliary space during emergencies, and floor tiles that were damaged when Moore shot Crump with a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol were pulled up and replaced.
The long, narrow room where Mealer was killed is still used by the radio dispatcher, but it was enlarged. A thick, steel door replaced an old wooden one, making it virtually impossible to enter the room without permission, and workers had to replace a bulletproof window that Moore tried to shoot out.
Some of the changes were for security, and some were made to make things look different from the day of the slayings. ''We basically just redecorated. We had to,’' said Black.