Evening star., 1960-02-25
Prowler Is Slain
By Police in Store
Another Held;
Victim Ignored
Order to Halt

y
was shot to death early today
by a Prince Georges County
policeman who, police said,
surprised the victim and a
companion while they were
looting a store in College Park
The second man surrendered
The dead man was identified
by police as James Melvin bod
son, of 52-F Crescent road,
Greenbelt, who was % years old
yesterday. Police said he previ-
ously had served a jail term for
breaking and entering and was
released from probation in
December.
Arrested at the scene and
charged with breaking and
entering was Raymond Leroy
Faulconer, %, of SOD Crescent
road, Greenbelt, a neighbor Of
the dead man. He was held
under $1,000 bond pending a
hearing in HyattsVille Monday
According to Detective Sergt.
Charles H. Nalley, Dodson was
shot in the back in the semi
darkness inside the Berwyn
Fuel and Feed Co. store by a
bullet fired by Pfc. Paul
Clements.
The policeman had been ais
patched to the store at 5l07
BerWyn road about 1890 m.
after police got a telephone
call from a store employe who
reported seeing two men inside
the stores Office. The emplove
had gone to the store to take
up a watch for would-be m
truders.
Police said the store had
been broken into frequently
and the management had set
up a system of rotating en-
ployes for night time watch.
Fired One Shot
Sergt. Nalley said this is what
happened after Pfc. Clements
responded to the employees calf
Pfc. Clements found two men.
still inside the store and rushed
in with gun drawn, ordering
them to surrender. He told
Sergt. Nalley and Detective
Sergt. Emmett Gray that one
man surrendered. The other.
he said. started to run toward
the rear, then appeared to turn
with what looked like weapon
in his hand.
Sergt. Nalley said Pfc. Glenn
q. entS fired one shot from a dis
tance of about % feet but didn't
know he hit anyone until after
reinforcements arrived and the
other suspect was handcuffed.
Pfc. Clements then went into
a back room and saw Dodson
crouched on the floor as if he
were sitting.
Il didn't think I'd hit Dod-
son, but when l went to the
rear he was crouching on the
floor. I asked him if he was
hurt. I saw he was breathing
hard and then went outside to
call an ambulance. Dodson
did not say anything" Pfc.
Clements said.
The policeman said Dodson
appeared to be dead by the
time an ambulance arrived. DR..
John T. Maloney, deputy medi-
cal examiner for the county,
arrived minutes later and Off
cially pronounced DodSon dead
!, at lilo am. He said the bullet
entered the back near the
spine. just a little below the
shoulder blade. and came out
IN the center of the chest, ap-
parently sSing directly
through the heart.
Loot Recovered
Faulconer was held at the
Seat Pleasant police station.
Sergt. Nalley said Faulconer
had a transistor radio inside
his shirt and a new watch in
his pocket. On the floor was
a box which police said the
men were filling with such
things as a toaSter. electric drill
and other items from the store.
Sergt. Nalley said the weapon
which Dodson was believed to
have held turned out to be a
croWbar, used in prying open
the rear door of the establish
ment.
Afterward, police said they
found the mems car parked on
the other side of the Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad tracks from
the store.
Sergt. Nalley said the store
employe who first reported the
lntruderS was William w.
Zavetz of 1906 Berwyn road. He
spotted them, the detective said,
when he drove up outside the
store to park his car, then
drove to the nearest public tele-
phone to report it to police.
Pic. Clements was suspended
after the shooting. but was re-
lnstated later today after a
tWo-hour closed hearing before
Chief George j. Panagoulis:
Capt. Charles N. Thomson.
supply officer; Capt. Roland
Sweitzer, chief of the uni
formed division: Capt. Wilson
j. Purdy. chief of detectives,
and 1t. E. R. Thompson, COM
mander of the Hyattsville sub
station where Pfc. Clements
was assigned.
This was case of iustifiabIe
homicide Chief Panagoulis
said.
Dodson. whose body was
taken to the Gasch Funeral
w. = -,