She said the satellite transmission told her to shoot at truckers James M. Harper, 52, of Gallatin, Tenn., and Chuck Sawyer...
+++++++++++
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), May 23, 1998 p1A
'Devil spirits,' satellite led to rampage, woman says. (NEWS)
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1998 Arizona Daily Star.
Byline: Jon Burstein and Rhonda Bodfield
Gracie Verduzco said yesterday that "devil spirits" and satellite transmissions led to her Thursday shooting spree across Tucson.
One person was killed and four were wounded.
While she admitted shooting at four of the victims, she maintained none of the bullets hit anyone.
"I am sorry that they (the shootings) happened," Verduzco said. "I couldn't stop it."
Satellite signals into a receiver in her left ear along with the spirits forced her to open fire, Verduzco said in a jailhouse interview.
"It's like I have another personality in my ear," said Verduzco, who complained that voices from satellite transmissions have been singing to her for five weeks.
Authorities allege Verduzco, 35, shot a man in the leg at a central Tucson post office, wounded two men at a southside truck stop, shot a motorist who stopped to help her on the freeway and killed Dwight D. Childress of Mescal after he apparently gave her a ride.
State Department of Public Safety officials verified yesterday that they conducted a background check when Verduzco applied to buy a .38-caliber gun from a local pawn shop last Saturday.
DPS spokesman Bob Stein refused to say which pawn shop sold her the gun. He also declined to release a copy of the federal form she filled out. The form asks whether prospective gun buyers have been committed for mental illness, use drugs or have convictions for felony offenses or certain misdemeanor crimes, including domestic violence.
If a person answers yes to any of those questions, they automatically are rejected. The DPS also conducts computerized criminal background checks, which take less than 10 minutes.
Stein said based on Verduzco's form and the computer check, DPS had no grounds to deny her application.
Yet records and interviews with family members reveal that Verduzco has been in mental institutions in Tucson and Washington, D.C., has a longstanding drug problem and has been charged with several crimes.
City Court records show she has been arrested on domestic-violence, drug and DUI charges. The outcomes of the criminal cases were unavailable yesterday because the records are archived.
Inner voices
Chief executive officer of La Frontera, Dan Ranieri, yesterday would not confirm family statements that she was treated at the Tucson behavioral health facility.
When the mentally ill are involved in violent acts, he said, it is especially tragic.
"Many times the individual who does it isn't even fully aware of what they're doing, or they're doing it in response to hallucinations or inner voices telling them to do something," Ranieri said.
Hearing voices can be a symptom of schizophrenia or other mental afflictions, he said.
Verduzco faces a count of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder. She was being held last night in the Pima County Jail in lieu of $1.15 million bond.
Not in control
Verduzco gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent interview yesterday with her hands handcuffed behind her back.
She said she was not in control of her body when she shot a 52-year-old man in the calf outside the Sun Station Post Office, 2100 E. Speedway.
Authorities said Verduzco left the post office in a car driven by her stepfather, Maxey Garcia.
Garcia said he had no idea Verduzco planned to open fire, and she forced him to drive her to the Triple T Truck Stop, 5451 E. Benson Highway, so she could hitch a ride out of state.
Garcia, 75, said: "If I'd have said a word to her, I'd be dead."
"Tired of this city"
Verduzco denied ever threatening Garcia, but acknowledged he drove her to the truck stop.
"I shot at these people (at the post office)," Verduzco said. "I didn't want to stay here anymore. I'm tired of this city."
She said the satellite transmission told her to shoot at truckers James M. Harper, 52, of Gallatin, Tenn., and Chuck Sawyer as they talked in the truck stop's parking lot. Sawyer's age was unavailable.
"It said, 'The next ones who say they're going to California, they're going to be the lucky ones' " who would be shot at next, Verduzco said.
Authorities said Harper was shot once in the back, and another bullet took off the top of one of Sawyer's ears. Both were treated and released from area hospitals.
Verduzco said that after she opened fire at the truck stop, a man in a red truck picked her up and drove her "to the fairgrounds in the Triple T."
"Evil spirit in him"
Then a man in a white Cadillac pulled up to her as she walked along Interstate 10 near the truck stop, she said.
"He was friendly," Verduzco said. "He said he was going to Benson."
While she talked with the driver, she said he asked if she knew what type of spirit was in his body. She said she recognized that he had an evil spirit in him.
"He said, 'I just thought you were a hot babe walking down the street,' and I said, 'Yeah, I know what you thought,' " Verduzco said.
She said the driver eventually pulled over, she thanked him for the ride and shot at him.
"I have no idea why I shot at him," she said.
Verduzco said she watched the car veer across the four lanes of I-10 and into the desert. Motorists later found Childress dead behind the wheel of his Cadillac.
Verduzco adamantly denied shooting another man, Michael D. Hunter, 50.
Hunter said Verduzco shot him when he came to her aid near the Rita Road exit of I-10.
Bullet still there
Hunter yesterday described himself as "one lucky guy" for surviving a shot to the chest.
The bullet ricocheted off his sternum and lodged in his left shoulder. The bullet is still there, causing some swelling. He was released from the hospital yesterday.
Hunter, a Vietnam veteran, said he thought Verduzco had a broken-down car.
"I thought, 'It would be nice if somebody would stop for me if my car was broken,' so I stopped," he said.
He said that when he asked what was wrong, she said the car had stopped. When he asked Verduzco her name, she replied "Scorpion" or "Black Widow," he said.
Her face reflected no feeling at all, he said.
"Something told me she wasn't playing with both oars in the water," he said, adding that as he turned to go, she shot him. He doesn't remember seeing the gun, only the puff of smoke.
He said he doesn't remember feeling any pain until he felt the blood running down his chest.
"The thing that kept running through my mind is, 'How can any human being do this to someone else who didn't mean anything to them?' " Hunter said.
Hunter never looked inside the Cadillac, where Childress was later found.
A big heart
Childress' friends yesterday expressed shock at his death.
He had just turned 50 in April, and his son recently had become a father. The two men had bought some property near East Ajo Way and Benson Highway and planned to open a mechanics shop.
Childress had a big heart, said Michael Whitzel, one of his neighbors.
Childress once was walking past a dogcatcher's truck, when a black Lab whined at him. Childress talked the animal-control officer into giving him the dog, which he promptly named Lucky.
He volunteered to serve three tours in Vietnam.
"He's lived a lot and he's experienced a lot, so to think that some psycho nut he tried to help ended his life is hard to fathom," said Whitzel.
"I don't know what happened, but whoever used their authority to release that person in society and allow her access to a firearm, if they're any kind of real person at all, they'll have a hard time living with themselves over this."
Childress worked for about four years for Paul Sisco, owner of Creative Cycles, a motorcycle shop in Tucson. Sisco yesterday called Childress "a pretty friendly guy who knew everybody. You'll find a lot of people in town will be missing him."
"We're kind of stunned. This is not the first time we've known people who've been shot. We knew the guys from the Moon Smoke Shop, we knew those who were shot at the firefighters hall, and it's pretty crazy that everybody seems to be getting shot for no reason."
Few clues
Verduzco's one-room apartment, in the 600 block of North Dodge Boulevard, yielded few clues.
Police seized only a handful of items, including a calendar and papers taken from the trash can, a suitcase and the coffee table.
There was no television, only mismatched, cigarette-burned couches and the coffee table. Neighbors said she got rid of the TV because she feared the government was using it to control her.
Verduzco, who had moved into the apartment in May 1997, was told she would have to leave in June. The city, which owns the apartments, wanted to use them as transitional homes for the homeless, a city spokeswoman said.
Verduzco paid $325 a month in rent.
One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Verduzco would sometimes sit outside and feed the birds. But she glowered at people, and her animosity appeared to escalate in recent weeks.
James Curry, a maintenance worker at the apartment, confirmed neighbors' stories that Verduzco often complained that maintenance men were stealing her milk. She claimed the devil was in her apartment.
"When I heard what happened, my hair went from one side of my head to the other," Curry said. "How can a mentally ill person like that get a gun?"
Curry said "what if" was the theme as neighbors sat around Thursday night discussing the events.
"These people were scared. We're sitting here, not knowing she had a gun. We could've been the victims if she hadn't gotten a ride," he said.
Previous arrest
A review of Verduzco's arrests shows that in November 1992 she was arrested for having fictitious plates and driving on a suspended or revoked license.
In January 1994, she was arrested on domestic violence assault charges. One year later, she was arrested for possession of narcotic paraphernalia. And in February 1997 she was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license.
Ranieri of La Frontera said the public perception of the mentally ill is skewed by high-profile tragedies such as Thursday's shootings.
"It kind of re-emphasizes stereotypes that these are people who are to be feared - they're different and they're scary and they're dangerous," he said. He added that people with mental illnesses commit fewer crimes than those without.
Signals transmitted through TV
Verduzco said she has no idea why the spirits and transmissions forced her to shoot at people. She's received the transmissions since 1993, she said.
Verduzco said the government and entertainment industry also have transmitted signals to her through televisions.
Verduzco said she was receiving transmissions during pauses in her interview. Some of the transmissions included racist slurs, she said.
Verduzco said she hasn't tried to stop the transmissions, recognizing only God or surgery by whoever put the device there in the first place could stop it.
"They have put things in my ear," Verduzco said. "That's the way it goes."
+++++++++++
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), May 23, 1998 p1A
'Devil spirits,' satellite led to rampage, woman says. (NEWS)
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1998 Arizona Daily Star.
Byline: Jon Burstein and Rhonda Bodfield
Gracie Verduzco said yesterday that "devil spirits" and satellite transmissions led to her Thursday shooting spree across Tucson.
One person was killed and four were wounded.
While she admitted shooting at four of the victims, she maintained none of the bullets hit anyone.
"I am sorry that they (the shootings) happened," Verduzco said. "I couldn't stop it."
Satellite signals into a receiver in her left ear along with the spirits forced her to open fire, Verduzco said in a jailhouse interview.
"It's like I have another personality in my ear," said Verduzco, who complained that voices from satellite transmissions have been singing to her for five weeks.
Authorities allege Verduzco, 35, shot a man in the leg at a central Tucson post office, wounded two men at a southside truck stop, shot a motorist who stopped to help her on the freeway and killed Dwight D. Childress of Mescal after he apparently gave her a ride.
State Department of Public Safety officials verified yesterday that they conducted a background check when Verduzco applied to buy a .38-caliber gun from a local pawn shop last Saturday.
DPS spokesman Bob Stein refused to say which pawn shop sold her the gun. He also declined to release a copy of the federal form she filled out. The form asks whether prospective gun buyers have been committed for mental illness, use drugs or have convictions for felony offenses or certain misdemeanor crimes, including domestic violence.
If a person answers yes to any of those questions, they automatically are rejected. The DPS also conducts computerized criminal background checks, which take less than 10 minutes.
Stein said based on Verduzco's form and the computer check, DPS had no grounds to deny her application.
Yet records and interviews with family members reveal that Verduzco has been in mental institutions in Tucson and Washington, D.C., has a longstanding drug problem and has been charged with several crimes.
City Court records show she has been arrested on domestic-violence, drug and DUI charges. The outcomes of the criminal cases were unavailable yesterday because the records are archived.
Inner voices
Chief executive officer of La Frontera, Dan Ranieri, yesterday would not confirm family statements that she was treated at the Tucson behavioral health facility.
When the mentally ill are involved in violent acts, he said, it is especially tragic.
"Many times the individual who does it isn't even fully aware of what they're doing, or they're doing it in response to hallucinations or inner voices telling them to do something," Ranieri said.
Hearing voices can be a symptom of schizophrenia or other mental afflictions, he said.
Verduzco faces a count of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder. She was being held last night in the Pima County Jail in lieu of $1.15 million bond.
Not in control
Verduzco gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent interview yesterday with her hands handcuffed behind her back.
She said she was not in control of her body when she shot a 52-year-old man in the calf outside the Sun Station Post Office, 2100 E. Speedway.
Authorities said Verduzco left the post office in a car driven by her stepfather, Maxey Garcia.
Garcia said he had no idea Verduzco planned to open fire, and she forced him to drive her to the Triple T Truck Stop, 5451 E. Benson Highway, so she could hitch a ride out of state.
Garcia, 75, said: "If I'd have said a word to her, I'd be dead."
"Tired of this city"
Verduzco denied ever threatening Garcia, but acknowledged he drove her to the truck stop.
"I shot at these people (at the post office)," Verduzco said. "I didn't want to stay here anymore. I'm tired of this city."
She said the satellite transmission told her to shoot at truckers James M. Harper, 52, of Gallatin, Tenn., and Chuck Sawyer as they talked in the truck stop's parking lot. Sawyer's age was unavailable.
"It said, 'The next ones who say they're going to California, they're going to be the lucky ones' " who would be shot at next, Verduzco said.
Authorities said Harper was shot once in the back, and another bullet took off the top of one of Sawyer's ears. Both were treated and released from area hospitals.
Verduzco said that after she opened fire at the truck stop, a man in a red truck picked her up and drove her "to the fairgrounds in the Triple T."
"Evil spirit in him"
Then a man in a white Cadillac pulled up to her as she walked along Interstate 10 near the truck stop, she said.
"He was friendly," Verduzco said. "He said he was going to Benson."
While she talked with the driver, she said he asked if she knew what type of spirit was in his body. She said she recognized that he had an evil spirit in him.
"He said, 'I just thought you were a hot babe walking down the street,' and I said, 'Yeah, I know what you thought,' " Verduzco said.
She said the driver eventually pulled over, she thanked him for the ride and shot at him.
"I have no idea why I shot at him," she said.
Verduzco said she watched the car veer across the four lanes of I-10 and into the desert. Motorists later found Childress dead behind the wheel of his Cadillac.
Verduzco adamantly denied shooting another man, Michael D. Hunter, 50.
Hunter said Verduzco shot him when he came to her aid near the Rita Road exit of I-10.
Bullet still there
Hunter yesterday described himself as "one lucky guy" for surviving a shot to the chest.
The bullet ricocheted off his sternum and lodged in his left shoulder. The bullet is still there, causing some swelling. He was released from the hospital yesterday.
Hunter, a Vietnam veteran, said he thought Verduzco had a broken-down car.
"I thought, 'It would be nice if somebody would stop for me if my car was broken,' so I stopped," he said.
He said that when he asked what was wrong, she said the car had stopped. When he asked Verduzco her name, she replied "Scorpion" or "Black Widow," he said.
Her face reflected no feeling at all, he said.
"Something told me she wasn't playing with both oars in the water," he said, adding that as he turned to go, she shot him. He doesn't remember seeing the gun, only the puff of smoke.
He said he doesn't remember feeling any pain until he felt the blood running down his chest.
"The thing that kept running through my mind is, 'How can any human being do this to someone else who didn't mean anything to them?' " Hunter said.
Hunter never looked inside the Cadillac, where Childress was later found.
A big heart
Childress' friends yesterday expressed shock at his death.
He had just turned 50 in April, and his son recently had become a father. The two men had bought some property near East Ajo Way and Benson Highway and planned to open a mechanics shop.
Childress had a big heart, said Michael Whitzel, one of his neighbors.
Childress once was walking past a dogcatcher's truck, when a black Lab whined at him. Childress talked the animal-control officer into giving him the dog, which he promptly named Lucky.
He volunteered to serve three tours in Vietnam.
"He's lived a lot and he's experienced a lot, so to think that some psycho nut he tried to help ended his life is hard to fathom," said Whitzel.
"I don't know what happened, but whoever used their authority to release that person in society and allow her access to a firearm, if they're any kind of real person at all, they'll have a hard time living with themselves over this."
Childress worked for about four years for Paul Sisco, owner of Creative Cycles, a motorcycle shop in Tucson. Sisco yesterday called Childress "a pretty friendly guy who knew everybody. You'll find a lot of people in town will be missing him."
"We're kind of stunned. This is not the first time we've known people who've been shot. We knew the guys from the Moon Smoke Shop, we knew those who were shot at the firefighters hall, and it's pretty crazy that everybody seems to be getting shot for no reason."
Few clues
Verduzco's one-room apartment, in the 600 block of North Dodge Boulevard, yielded few clues.
Police seized only a handful of items, including a calendar and papers taken from the trash can, a suitcase and the coffee table.
There was no television, only mismatched, cigarette-burned couches and the coffee table. Neighbors said she got rid of the TV because she feared the government was using it to control her.
Verduzco, who had moved into the apartment in May 1997, was told she would have to leave in June. The city, which owns the apartments, wanted to use them as transitional homes for the homeless, a city spokeswoman said.
Verduzco paid $325 a month in rent.
One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Verduzco would sometimes sit outside and feed the birds. But she glowered at people, and her animosity appeared to escalate in recent weeks.
James Curry, a maintenance worker at the apartment, confirmed neighbors' stories that Verduzco often complained that maintenance men were stealing her milk. She claimed the devil was in her apartment.
"When I heard what happened, my hair went from one side of my head to the other," Curry said. "How can a mentally ill person like that get a gun?"
Curry said "what if" was the theme as neighbors sat around Thursday night discussing the events.
"These people were scared. We're sitting here, not knowing she had a gun. We could've been the victims if she hadn't gotten a ride," he said.
Previous arrest
A review of Verduzco's arrests shows that in November 1992 she was arrested for having fictitious plates and driving on a suspended or revoked license.
In January 1994, she was arrested on domestic violence assault charges. One year later, she was arrested for possession of narcotic paraphernalia. And in February 1997 she was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license.
Ranieri of La Frontera said the public perception of the mentally ill is skewed by high-profile tragedies such as Thursday's shootings.
"It kind of re-emphasizes stereotypes that these are people who are to be feared - they're different and they're scary and they're dangerous," he said. He added that people with mental illnesses commit fewer crimes than those without.
Signals transmitted through TV
Verduzco said she has no idea why the spirits and transmissions forced her to shoot at people. She's received the transmissions since 1993, she said.
Verduzco said the government and entertainment industry also have transmitted signals to her through televisions.
Verduzco said she was receiving transmissions during pauses in her interview. Some of the transmissions included racist slurs, she said.
Verduzco said she hasn't tried to stop the transmissions, recognizing only God or surgery by whoever put the device there in the first place could stop it.
"They have put things in my ear," Verduzco said. "That's the way it goes."
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
