By GENE JOHNSON
The Associated Press
MOSCOW, Idaho —
Investigators found five guns and a laptop computer in the vehicle of a man suspected of killing three people in a shooting spree in Moscow, a police chief said Sunday, but they hadn’t yet uncovered any motive for the rampage.
John Lee, 29, was arrested following a high-speed chase in nearby Washington state after the shootings Saturday.
Police believe he opened fire at three locations in Moscow, killing his landlord, his adoptive mother and a manager at a restaurant his parents frequented. A Seattle man was also critically injured.
Investigators searched Lee’s car and apartment late Saturday night, Moscow Police Chief David Duke said.
They found two semi-automatic pistols, a revolver, a shotgun and a rifle in the vehicle, along with a laptop, he said. Ballistics tests were expected to help determine which weapons might have been used in the shootings.
Authorities were seeking a warrant to search the computer, he said.
“There’s still nothing to identify a specific motive as to why Mr. Lee took these actions,” Duke said.
The first death was that of Lee’s adoptive mother, Terri Grzebielski, 61, at her home.
Police said Lee then headed to Northwest Mutual life insurance building, where he shot his landlord, David Trail, 76, who was a local businessman and the brother of a former state representative, as well as Michael Chin, 39, of Seattle.
Duke said Chin had no link to Lee, but he was discussing business with Trail when the gunman arrived. Duke said Chin was shot in the arm and leg.
Authorities initially said he was being flown to a hospital in Seattle in critical condition, but Duke said Sunday he was flown to one in Spokane.
It wasn’t immediately clear which hospital he was in; a supervisor at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center said Sunday the hospital would not confirm whether he was a patient there.
There were “some issues” regarding Lee’s apartment, Duke said, but no eviction proceedings that police were aware of.
Upon leaving the insurance office, the shooter drove to an Arby’s restaurant and asked for the manager. When she appeared, he pulled out a gun and opened fire.
The manager, Belinda Niebuhr, 47, died at the Moscow hospital.
Duke told The Associated Press that Lee’s parents ate at the restaurant and knew the manager well, but it’s not clear whether Lee did as well.
He did not work at the restaurant as far as police knew, and workers who witnessed the attack didn’t recognize him, Duke said.
Kelsey Stemrich said she was working at a cafe near Arby’s when she and a customer heard three gunshots and then saw people running from the restaurant.
She says they took down the license-plate number of a car seen pulling away from the Arby’s and called it into police.
Police in Washington spotted the suspect’s black Honda, and a chase involving multiple agencies ensued.
Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins said the pursuit lasted nearly 25 miles, and Lee’s vehicle at times topped 100 mph before crashing off Highway 195 north of Colfax, Wash., and rolling to a stop.
Few details were available on Lee’s background. Duke said he had been adopted at birth, and he recently returned to Moscow after living for a few years in the Midwest.
Lee was taken to a Colfax hospital for treatment of minor injuries before he was booked into the Whitman County Jail on a charge of felony eluding.
Duke said Idaho authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Lee for investigation of three counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder, and he said they could take Lee into custody from Washington state by Monday unless he fights extradition.
Moscow is a city of about 25,000 people in northern Idaho. It is about 10 miles from Pullman, Wash.
