
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994                   TAG: 9404040190
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILMINGTON, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

MAN GUILTY OF MURDER IN RESTAURANT SHOOTINGS

A man who admitted opening fire in a Fayetteville restaurant where four people were killed was convicted Friday of four counts of first-degree murder.

Kenneth Junior French also was convicted of wounding eight people and of shooting into an occupied building.

French, an Army sergeant who was stationed at Fort Bragg, stared at the table before him and wiped tears from his eyes as the verdicts were read.

He had admitted before the trial that he was the one who opened fire inside Luigi's restaurant last Aug. 6.

Sitting behind French in court were his mother, half-sister and brother. They cried for several minutes as jurors were polled on the verdict.

The family of restaurant owners Pete and Ethel Parrous, formerly of Roanoke, Va., wept openly. The owners and two patrons were killed.

``The bottom line is, our pain will never go away. Our parents will never be returned,'' said Linda Parrous, the owners' daughter.

Superior Court Judge Coy Brewer scheduled a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

by CNB