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--> --> Alabama: We'll seek death penalty for sniper suspects MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Authorities in Alabama are convinced that Washington-area sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad was the gunman in a fatal shooting outside a liquor store last month and will seek the death penalty, police said today. The officer who saw the shooting suspect Sept. 21 "made no hesitation whatsoever" when presented with a photo of Muhammad as part of a photo lineup Thursday, Chief John Wilson said. "He actually shuddered when he saw the picture and said, 'That's the man I saw,"' Wilson said. "We intend to aggressively pursue the death penalty in our case." Wilson said Muhammad, 41, is accused of killing the clerk outside the store as it closed Sept. 21, and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo is being charged as an accomplice. The two were arrested Thursday in Maryland as suspects in the sniper slayings. The death penalty will be sought against both Muhammad and Malvo under the charges being filed today, Wilson said. "We want to send a very strong message to not only this community and this state but the country that this is not the kind of conduct, this is not what we expect of civilized society," Wilson said. "We're going to make an example of somebody." Dwight Johnson, an officer who heard gunshots that night, chased a man fleeing the liquor store shootings, at one point coming within a couple of feet of him, and helped provide a composite sketch, authorities had said. Police had earlier indicated they thought Malvo - whose fingerprint they said was found at the scene - was the man in the sketch. But Wilson said at today's news conference that Muhammad is now believed to be the man who was chased by Johnson. He said Johnson had not been allowed to see any of the news media accounts and photographs of Muhammad and Malvo before being asked to pick out the man he saw. Another witness tentatively identified Malvo as being at a gas station near the liquor store, Wilson said, and a third witness may have seen at least one of the men. Johnson was parked across the street from the store and heard the gunshots that killed Claudine Parker, 52, and wounded co-worker Kellie Adams, 24, as they were locking up, Wilson said. But the gunman managed to outrun the officer. Wilson didn't fault Johnson, who he said considered shooting the gunman but decided against it. "He's looking at a fleeing suspect who's not a threat to him, and he was not fully aware of what had transpired" at the shooting scene behind him, Wilson said Thursday night. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing