Suspect held on abduction charges
William Lee Freeman, 35, was being held in lieu of $3 million bail
Prosecutors last night charged one of the two suspects in Monday's Kaneohe fatal shooting with kidnapping and hindering prosecution. William Lee Freeman, 35, was being held in lieu of $3 million bail.
He was scheduled to appear in court this morning. Freeman and Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, 26, who remained in custody without charges last night, were arrested in the case of a Kaneohe man who died from multiple gunshots to the torso.
Lindsey has been linked to a September 2000 shooting in Alabama in which the charges were dropped.
 CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
After a man was fatally shot on Kaneohe Bay Drive on Monday night, the vehicle of three suspects was found in Haleiwa. The first suspect, William Freeman, was arrested near Jameson's restaurant in Haleiwa, shown here. CLICK FOR LARGE |
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Police tie suspect to Alabama slayings
A man arrested after the Kaneohe killing was also a suspect in a mainland shooting
A man arrested seven years ago in a bloody Alabama shooting has emerged as one of the suspects in Monday's fatal shooting in Kaneohe.
Jerrico Dewon Lindsey, then 20, was arrested in Prichard, Ala., in the slaying of two men in September 2000 but was released because of a lack of evidence.
Now 26, Lindsey was arrested Tuesday morning in Laniakea, the second of three suspects found in a police manhunt after a man in his 30s was shot dead. Alabama prosecutors had released him in 2000, and now they say they will be following his Hawaii case.
"Any time police develop a suspect and there's not enough evidence to proceed, everyone in law enforcement hopes that maybe we were wrong, and that was not actually the person, and that person is going to go on and live a law-abiding and productive life," said Nicki Patterson, chief assistant district attorney for Mobile County, Ala.
"Unfortunately, in this case, that may not have happened."
In the Prichard, Ala., case, David Massey, 18, was killed by a 9-mm pistol in a parking lot on Branch Avenue, the scene of several parties the night of Sept. 3, 2000.
Michael Jackson, 29, was later shot dead by a stolen AK-47 assault rifle while he was driving his car, according to the Press-Register in Mobile. Four others suffered minor gunshot wounds.
The assault rifle, stolen from a Mobile gun store in 1992, was found near the shooting site. Police then said they had a witness who placed Lindsey at the scene, and arrested him on two counts of murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
Later that month, Lindsey was released after the case reached the District Attorney's Office. Charges were never filed, and the case remains open and unsolved.
"Once the case made its way to our office, it was determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed even to a probable cause hearing," Patterson said.
Patterson deferred further comments on the case to Prichard police, who did not return calls for comment yesterday.
Lindsey is one of two men arrested in Monday night's shooting in Kaneohe. The victim, whose identity has yet to be released, was shot several times in the chest and abdomen at Kaneohe Bay Drive and Moakaka Place.
Three suspects fled, and their vehicle was found in Haleiwa. William Lee Freeman, 35, was found nearby.
Prosecutors charged Freeman last night with kidnapping and hindering prosecution. Bail was set at $3 million. He was scheduled to appear in court this morning. A preliminary hearing will be held Monday.
