Lonnie Davis

 VICTIMS: 3 dead so far (2 critically injured - maybe on their way out)

On the last Saturday in May, 1999, a nutter killed his mother and nephew. They were stabbed to death. He then fatally beat a woman, critically injured another woman, run over a motorcyclist and shot a sheriff's deputy. A pretty good effort from a guy that most thought was a pretty together guy.

Believed to be responsible for it all was 22-year-old Lonnie Davis, who was shot dead by a police sniper after a standoff with police in a northern suburb of Seattle.

Davis had previous run-ins with the law in King County but no known history of violence, Brier Police Chief Gary Minor said.

"I don't think we're ever going to know what set him off. At this point, we don't have a clue," he said. "We don't know that he had a history of any mental problems."

It started with the deaths of Davis' mother, Sheila Lindsey, 46, and his sister's son, Kahari Prince, 18 months. The two were stabbed to death with a three-inch paring knife Friday morning, probably around 10 or 11 a.m., Minor said.

Lonnie changed out of his bloodied jeans and T-shirt and left without washing up.

At about 1:30 p.m., Lonnie, driving his mothers black Honda station wagon, swerved into a motorcycle on Interstate 5 in Shoreline, located in King County a few miles south of Brier.

The motorcyclist, Anthony Venegas, 64, had to have his leg amputated below the knee.

It must have been a fairly violent accident because papers described the car as being "torn in half and burned." Davis fled on foot into a nearby neighborhood.

Moments later, a resident called 911 when she heard Erma Spence screaming for help.

Spence, 63, was found lying in her yard in a pool of blood, with what looked like a broken posthole digger - a garden tool - near her body. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Lonnie then attacked 82-year-old Irene Hilton in her yard, hitting her with an object (not yet known what he used) and breaking her neck and critically injuring her (not sure if she survived), police said.

Sheriff's officers say the man then found an empty house that contained a large number of weapons (odd for an American house to a shitload of weapons available to anyone to take) and started firing at officers. Deputy Diana Russell was hit in the head by flying glass and a ricocheting bullet. She was in serious condition that Saturday night (I don't know if she survived).

King County Sheriff Dave Reichert said his officers responded with just the single sniper shot (and we all believe that, don't we?). The officers then fired three rounds of tear gas into the home, at 15 minute intervals, to make sure the man was down, he said.

"The sniper's shot was meant to kill," said an honest Reichert. I wonder if this is what police are usually taught to say. I though they were meant to say that it was an accident, or that it was in self-defence, or even that the killer took his own life. (see Shon Miller or Hank Carr)

"It's a sad thing and it's a tough decision to make," he said, "but in this case it was the right thing to do."
 

MY OPINION

I really cannot wait for more info to come out on Lonnie Davis. It sounds like an excellent case. He used different methods of murder (or attempted murder). The garden tool into an old lady is a new one I must admit. It's just a shame that the papers haven't released any info on Lonnie yet (maybe they have, but I live in Australia and our papers tend to ignore these crimes sometimes). Anyway, despite not knowing anything about him, I give a massive thumbs up to Lonnie Davis, a man not afraid to try new things.