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Posted on 10/13/2001 8:46:37 AM PDT by ethical

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/42670_shot13.shtml

U.S. attorney and gun-control activist slain by sniper

Saturday, October 13, 2001 By LEWIS KAMB SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

While Tom Wales tapped away at a computer in the basement of his Queen Anne home, a sniper waited.

Cloaked by darkness, the assassin crept to a backyard window, leveled a gun at the federal prosecutor and high-profile gun-control activist and squeezed the trigger, authorities said.

Bullets ripped through glass about 10:40 p.m. Thursday, hitting Wales in the neck and upper torso. Moments later, a neighbor reported seeing a man walk quickly to a car and drive off in a hurry.

Wales, a 49-year-old white-collar crime specialist for the U.S. Attorney's Office, was pronounced dead less than three hours later at Harborview Medical Center. The slaying immediately triggered a joint investigation by Seattle police detectives and agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Late yesterday, no motive had been established. There were no arrests.

But authorities had little doubt that the killing was a planned hit.

"This is not a drive-by shooting," said Capt. Brent Wingstrand, commander of the Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit. "I'm not going to share the specifics, but we don't have any doubt he was targeted."

The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the prosecution of the gunman, according to Carl Florez, assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office.

Minutes after neighbors reported hearing gunshots, FBI and ATF agents joined police inside Wales' stately beige-and-tan home along normally quiet Hayes Street at the southern crest of Queen Anne Hill. Officers with tracking dogs combed the neighborhood.

Emily Holt, who shared a backyard fence with Wales, told reporters she heard the shots, then saw a man walking briskly from Wales' home.

"He wasn't running, just walking real fast," she said.

Holt said he got into a car parked about a block away under a tree and a streetlight. "He took off like a bat out of hell," she said.

Responding officers noticed bullet holes in the basement window at Wales' home. They forced their way inside and found him lying on the floor -- critically wounded, Wingstrand said.

Medics worked on Wales for more than 40 minutes before rushing him to Harborview, a hospital spokeswoman said. Doctors pronounced him dead at 1:17 a.m.

Authorities yesterday declined to say whether Wales spoke to them before he died, possibly offering a clue to his killer's identity.

Unsettled neighbors could only wonder why anyone would want to kill the well-liked community activist -- a divorced father of two.

"He's the best neighbor," said Mary Aylward, who has lived in the same Queen Anne home, next door to Wales, for 45 years. "I feel like I've lost a son."

But as an 18-year prosecutor who sent hundreds of people to prison and a staunch gun-control advocate, Wales also made his share of enemies.

"There could be any number of personal business or professional issues that precipitated this act," Wingstrand said. "That's our job, to unravel it."

Yesterday, crime-scene tape cordoned off the front of Wales' three-story home. A red, older-model Range Rover remained parked in the home's driveway. A political sign perched in a front yard shrub blew back and forth in a strong autumn wind.

FBI agents and police detectives interviewed neighbors and culled through past and present case files that Wales worked on as a prosecutor, looking for leads.

"Nothing jumps out at us," said one source close to the investigation.

Wales' ex-wife, Elizabeth, a former Seattle School Board member and literary agent, was in Europe with the couple's adult son and daughter, who are studying abroad.

Authorities declined to say whether Wales had received or reported any threats recently.

Investigators yesterday were looking into some of Wales' most controversial cases and a recent "road-rage" incident, sources said.

Wales was involved in a Seattle fender-bender about two months ago. His car banged into a rental limousine, and the driver angrily confronted Wales afterward, federal sources said.

Wales was issued a traffic citation but it was later dropped. The limo company decided against pressing financial claims after concluding that there was scant damage to their vehicle, the sources said.

In one recent unresolved criminal case described as contentious, the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted four men who had been accused of altering military-surplus helicopters to disguise them as expensive civilian models. Wales, lead prosecutor in the case, said the practice of substituting parts was potentially dangerous.

The government dismissed the charges against the men, but obtained a guilty plea from the helicopter company two of the defendants were involved with.

One of the former defendants later filed a claim against the government for attorney fees, litigation expenses and general sanctions for frivolous prosecution. The matter is pending in U.S. District Court.

Wales' political interests were widespread -- from neighborhood activist to statewide gun-control advocate. The Harvard College graduate became an assistant U.S. attorney in 1983, devoting his career to prosecuting major business-related crimes and bank fraud.

In recent years, Wales lobbied hard for gun control, pushing a statewide citizens' initiative in 1997 to require trigger locks to accompany all gun sales, and force all gun owners to obtain a license after completing a safety course.

Gun-rights advocates and the National Rifle Association bitterly fought the measure, which was rejected at the polls. Undeterred, Wales stepped up his activism, becoming president of Washington CeaseFire, the state's largest gun-control group.

"We don't know who killed Tom, or why, but we know that our community has lost a kind, compassionate man, and ... the nation has lost a courageous leader in the movement against gun violence," Bruce Gryniewski, CeaseFire's executive director, said in a prepared statement yesterday.

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