I’ll fight to the end—gunman

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 8

I’ll fight to the end —gunman

NZPA Raleigh Vowing to fight to the end. a gunman claimed yesterday that he had shot a woman and a man he had been holding hostage along with his two children in a two-day occupation of a rail-road sleeper car.

Police chief. Fred Heineman. said that the man asserted he shot and killed a woman, whom he variously referred to as his wife and sister, and a man. But the gunman later said that the man was only wounded and the police chief termed his claims suspect.

“He is irrational. He has a strong desire to kill himself." the chief said last evening (N.Z. time). 36 hours after gunshots were first fired aboard the Amtrak Silver Star outside Raleigh. North Carolina.

The police reported hearing the man clicking the bolt

of what sounded like an automatic weapon.

Earlier in the day the man. identified only as W. Rodriguez. said that he wanted to negotiate. He asked for a lawyer, and oh another occasion he threatened to kill himself after letting the two children go. “He’s wanting to get out. He just wants to work it out." said Police Sergeant Mike Longmeyer.

The man boarded the train in Jacksonville. Florida, on Thursday . night with a woman and two children, believed to be his family. The police do not know who the man Rodriguez claims to have shot.

Later, Jorge ' Oliva, an Emergency Medical Services employee who is translating for the police from Spanish, said that he would try to convince officials to let him go alone with orange juice for the children.