Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterFAMILY MEMBERS of 17-year-old Jamaican, Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two persons held in connection with recent sniper shootings in the United States did not have time to catch their breath before receiving another blow, yesterday.
While still reeling from the news that their relative is alleged to be one of the snipers who killed 10 people and wounded three in the Washington DC area of the United States, the family got another shock, as the Alabama state police announced that they will be seeking the death penalty for Malvo as well as suspected sniper, John Allen Muhammad, in connection with the killing of a woman in Montgomery, Alabama.
"I feel bad, very bad," remarked a hoarse Rohan Malvo, Lee Boyd's half brother, who yesterday was so bombarded by local and international media calls that he left his cellular telephone and his business behind for several hours yesterday.
According to international media reports, the shooting happened on September 21 at the Alabama Beverage Control Store. An employee, Claudine Parker, was killed while another, Kelli Adams, was wounded.
The Alabama police stated yesterday that murder warrants were being signed for both suspects in the killing, which took place during a robbery attempt at a liquor store. Malvo, they said, would be tried as an adult.
Evidence from the robbery attempt led the police to Muhammad and Malvo, who were arrested while sleeping in a car at a rest stop. Police found a .223-calibre rifle in the car and ballistics tests later linked it to 11 of the 13 sniper shootings, which took place over a three week period.
Lee Boyd is being held as a material witness against Muhammad, a US army veteran and stepfather. Court proceedings are closed because of Malvo's age.
But, for those who knew him at the various schools he attended locally, the Lee Boyd Malvo on television in no way resembled the young man they knew.
At York Castle High School in St. Ann, where Malvo was a student from 1996 to 1998, there were only fond memories.
"The student that we know as Lee Malvo was a good student, very polite, he was not overly brilliant, but brilliant," remembered a school source, who knew Malvo personally through her childhood but did not wish to have her name used.
"He was fun loving, one who interacted very well with his peers and his teachers, as well, and we all know him to be a very good boy, a very bright boy as well. We are not sure if this is the same boy that we know. We hope he is not the same person but, if he is, something went wrong after he left here." However, she said that the photograph she saw on television was the Lee Malvo she knew.
At Spaldings High School, Clarendon, which he also attended, persons were in shock, wondering if the youth on television was the same boy who had excelled in Spanish and English and whom, they described as being a quiet but bright student.
The Foreign Affairs ministry confirmed Thursday that the 17-year-old was born in Kingston on February 18, 1985 and attended school locally before he emigrated to Antigua with his mother at age 13 and later, moving illegally to the United States, according to police reports. He is alleged that he was deserted by his mother in Antigua and became a street boy, during which time he came into contact with Muhammad whose mother is said to be an Antiguan.
