On June 7, 2003, a mass shooting took place at the Fayette Police Department in Fayette, Alabama, United States. 18-year-old Devin Moore, who had been arrested for driving a stolen car, gained control of a police officer's service pistol and used it to kill three members of law enforcement (two officers and one dispatcher) inside the station. Moore escaped the scene in a stolen police cruiser and was arrested the same after crossing state borders into Mississippi.
Moore was convicted on October 9, 2005, and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. As of July 2013, he remained on death row and was appealing his sentence.[3]
Incident
In the morning of June 7, 2003, at around 3:00a.m., Moore was arrested on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle following a traffic check in Fayette County, Alabama and taken to Fayette's police station, at the time staffed by three members of the Fayette Police Department.[4] At the station, Moore was charged with receiving stolen property, telling his mother in his jail phone call that he had bought the car from a "crackhead" in Jasper, after Moore offered him $500.[5][6] During the booking process, Moore's fingerprints and a mug shot were taken.[7] During this time, report came in that a dry cleaner, near to where Moore had received the car, had been burglarized, with clothes stolen. As a shoeprint was recovered at the scene, arresting officer Arnold Strickland also removed one of Moore's shoes to match the soles, unlocking Moore's handcuffs in the process.[8]
At approximately 5:30a.m., Moore attacked Strickland and managed to grab the officer's service weapon, a .40 caliberGlock pistol. After killing Strickland with two gunshots, Moore exited the booking office into the hallway, where he encountered officer James Crump, who had run to the scene after hearing the gunfire. Moore shot Crump three times and proceeded to go to the station's communications room. Outside the door, Moore killed unarmed dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer by shooting him five times through a glass window. The shooting lasted less than a minute and all three men died from gunshot wounds to the head.[2][9][10][11]
Moore initially exited through the front exit, but re-entered the station through the adjoining fire department, later stating he wanted to retrieve one of his shoes he had left behind. Upon his third re-entry through the fire department, he ran into two fire fighters, telling them "something bad happened up front". Moore and one of the firemen went into the police station, and when the fire fighter left Moore alone to look for a phone upon discovering the bodies, Moore stole Strickland's keys and fled the scene in a stolen police cruiser.[6][8] An ambulance arrived at around 6 a.m. and confirmed the deaths of both officers and the dispatcher.[8]
The firefighters provided a description of the escape vehicle. Moore was arrested at 9:00a.m. in Lowndes County, Mississippi.[4][12][13] According to the Associated Press, after his recapture he said, "Life is a video game. Everybody's got to die sometime."[2]
Once in custody, Moore quickly confessed and signed a written three-page letter containing his version of events. In a two-hour interrogation with Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Johnny Tubbs, Moore admitted he shot the men because he didn't want to go to jail.[11][14]:139 Moore alleged that Strickland had acted "nasty" towards him and told Moore that he could receive a jail sentence of up to three years. According to Moore, his original plan was to take Strickland's gun and threaten Strickland into handcuffing himself to Crump, but he instead opened fire when Strickland started screaming. Moore stated that he didn't attack the fire fighters because he didn't see them as a threat and that he had hoped that police would kill him upon his arrest in Mississippi. Moore reportedly only showed emotion when told that he would not be able to join the military due to the murders. According to Tubbs, he never made any mention of video games.[6]
Victims
Arnold Gunther Strickland, aged 55, was an officer for the Fayette Police Department since 2000. He was previously a police officer with several departments around western Alabama since at least 1980.[15][16][17][18]
James Eddie Crump, aged 40, was a corporal for the Fayette Police Department since 2000. He graduated Tuscaloosa Law Enforcement Academy in 1994 and previously worked as an officer in his hometown of Hamilton, Alabama.[15][16][19][20]
Leslie Franklin "Ace" Mealer, aged 38, was a dispatcher for the Fayette Police Department since 1988. He was also a dispatcher for the Sheriff's Department and 911 call centre of Fayette County, as well as a Reserve Deputy for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department and a Reserve Officer for the Berry Police Department.[15][16][21]
Remembrances for the shooting were held in 2004,[22] 2013[3] and 2023.[23]
Devin Darnell Moore[24] was born Devin Darnell Thompson[1] on May 15, 1985[25] to Kenneth Moore and Gloria Thompson.[26] Moore's father ran a janitorial business, and met Moore's mother when she was fifteen years old, while babysitting his other children from a previous marriage.[5] Moore has five older half-siblings, including Mookie Moore, a former National Football League player. Moore grew up in Covin, Alabama, briefly attending an alternative school in Walker County for a year, before moving to Jasper, Alabama in the tenth grade to live with his mother.[27]
According to Moore's murder trial defense, Moore's father was physically abusive and forced his sons to perform manual labor from an early age. The claim was supported by his older half-brother Adam, Adam Moore's wife, and an aunt.[5] Kenneth Moore and some family friends denied the allegations, with Kenneth being vocal during later media interviews about his son's previous behavioral issues, which included harassment of female classmates and carrying a knife to school.[27]
Moore graduated from high school in spring 2003 and had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, being due for entry by the end of summer.[28] Moore had prior contact with law enforcement for selling drugs and car theft,[27][28] but had no criminal record due to being underage at the time, having turned 18 three weeks before the shooting.[3]
Moore faced trial in 2005 and pleaded not guilty.[29] The defense, led by attorney Jim Standridge, claimed that Moore's repeated playing of the Grand Theft Auto video game had incited his shooting spree.[1] The defense also contended that Moore was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the crimes. Standridge argued that, as a child, Moore had been emotionally and physically abused by his father.[14]:139
1 2 3 "Paula Zahn Now (transcript)". CNN. July 26, 2005. Retrieved June 16, 2011. Moore's defense attorney, Jim Standridge, told jurors that the teen was disconnected from reality after repeatedly playing the video game and that he suffers from the post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered by abuse and extreme neglect as a child.
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