THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030347
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY AND JON FRANK, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 129 lines
A disgruntled former counselor at a psychiatric treatment center apparently killed a man in a dispute over money, then drove to the center where he held two hostages at gunpoint before releasing them and killing himself early Wednesday.
Timothy L. Gregory, 48, of the 2400 block of Deep Creek Blvd., kept dozens of police officers at bay during nearly 12 hours of negotiations at The Pines Residential Treatment Center. He shot himself to death at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, said Amber Whittaker, a Portsmouth police spokeswoman.
Gregory was wanted in the shooting death of Fred D. Boone, 31, of Des Moines Avenue, which occurred near Lincoln Park about 4 p.m. Tuesday - shortly before he showed up with a gun at The Pines.
Gregory shot Boone after the two argued over money and repairs that Boone had made to Gregory's car, according to family members of both men.
The dispute apparently ignited Gregory's lingering anger over what he considered unfair treatment while employed for three years at The Pines, members of Gregory's family said.
``He was a time bomb waiting to go off,'' said Veronica White, Gregory's sister. ``He said he was going to kill the person who had done that to him, and then kill himself.
Sometime before 5 p.m., Gregory apparently entered the Crawford campus on Crawford Parkway - one of The Pines' two centers - through an unlocked door in the administrative area. That door is not locked until 5 p.m. Residents ofthe campus are part of the Phoenix Program, which treats aggressive youths, including some convicted of murder.
As a former employee, Gregory knew his way around the center. He headed to the second floor, where the Human Resources Department is located. A managers' meeting was in progress, but Gregory found one woman alone in her office and sat and talked to her. Several other employees looked in on their conversation.
Gregory came to The Pines demanding to see two employees who work in the administration, according to an employee who asked not to be named.
Shortly before 6 p.m., an employee, seeing that Gregory was agitated, called police.
Police would not identify the hostages or provide information about them. But employees who asked not to be named said the hostages were the center's director of education and a human resources coordinator.
At one point during the standoff, the education director told the gunman she had been assaulted before. She then pretended she was having a heart attack, according to employees who asked not to be named.
The gunman released her, and as he did, he held a gun to the head of the human resources coordinator. She tried to stay with the man to counsel him because he had threatened to kill himself, but he released her about 1 a.m. She knew Gregory from his employment at The Pines.
Early in the hostage situation, the gunman fired several shots while hostages were in the room, Whittaker said. One of the bullets lodged in the ceiling, and another went past the head of the education director, according to an employee who declined to be named.
Police sealed off the gunman and his hostages in an isolated corner of the building, with some officers stationed on the roof, according to a Pines spokesman.
About 135 residents and some 45 staff members were in the building at the time of the hostage situation. The center's night crew was ushered into the building by police.
Gregory had been a residential counselor on the Brighton campus of The Pines, on Frederick Boulevard, from 1989 to 1992. He stopped coming to work in early 1992 and was replaced, according to a spokesman for The Pines. Gregory's family members said he quit because his hours had been cut.
Gregory harbored a grudge over a personnel review he had received in October 1991, according to the Pines spokesman. Although the review was favorable overall and praised him for being dependable, punctual and flexible, it also noted several areas for improvement. Among the suggestions were that Gregory take more initiative, follow through better on assignments and be more receptive to constructive criticism, the spokesman said.
Gregory apparently ``felt sabotaged'' and thought his career would not develop as he had hoped with such an appraisal on his record, the spokesman said.
Gregory had worked sporadically as a house painter for the past three years. He had financial problems, and the electricity at his rented house apparently had been shut off on Tuesday, according to his family.
One residential counselor, who asked not to be identified for fear that her job would be jeopardized, said she didn't find out about the hostage situation until some of the residents looked out the window and saw police in black SWAT team uniforms and bulletproof vests. It was about 7:15 p.m., she said. Within minutes, she received a telephone call telling her to stay in the building.
``All they told us was there was a person upstairs with guns and he has hostages,'' she said. ``We were trying to remain calm for the children. We walked around and drank coffee and talked.''
At one point, she said, she saw administrators wearing bulletproof vests.
Several employees used their cellular telephones to communicate with loved ones until the batteries went dead. Co-workers and family members called periodically to get news from the inside and to report information they had heard on television newscasts.
``We couldn't watch TV like we wanted to, because we didn't want to upset the kids,'' the counselor said. ``We were trapped in the building with a madman.''
By about 11 p.m., outside callers had told her that the gunman was wanted in connection with a murder earlier that day.
``I thought, `He already killed one person. . . . He's going to kill again,' '' she said. ``It was scary. That was the last thing I thought would happen when I got to work. . . . I didn't know he didn't have a bomb. I'm traumatized. . . . I was held hostage like everybody else.''
Some employees were allowed to leave after the last hostage was released, the employee said. Those allowed to leave were parked on the opposite side of the building from where the gunman was hiding out.
On Wednesday, staff members at The Pines gathered for a meeting to talk about events of Tuesday night and Wednesday. Security was one of the topics discussed. Some cried as they remembered their former co-worker. A therapist offered counseling.
MEMO: Staff writer Mike Mather contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Timothy Gregory's sisters said he believed his career had been
sabotaged/
Page A13.
Photo
MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot
Timothy Gregory, as a former employee, knew the layout of The Pines
Residential Treatment Center and was able to gain access Tuesday.
Staff and residents in other areas during the standoff were not
physically harmed.
Map
VP
KEYWORDS: HOSTAGES MURDER SUICIDE
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