MOSCOW, Idaho — An Idaho judge ruled Thursday there is sufficient evidence to bring a 29-year-old man to trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the Jan. 10 shooting deaths of his adoptive mother, his landlord and a fast-food restaurant manager in the north Idaho community of Moscow.
Killed were Terri Grzebielski, 61; David Trail, 76, and an Arby’s manager, 47-year-old Belinda Niebuhr.
John Lee of Moscow is also charged with aggravated battery in the wounding of a Seattle man, Michael Chin, who is still recovering from his bullet wounds.
The prosecution offered some of its evidence against Lee at a Latah County District Court preliminary hearing, the Lewiston Tribune reported. Lee’s lawyer, Charles Kovis, questioned witnesses as well.
Survivor Chin told the court he had been visiting his insurance agent, Trail, when a man entered the office, pulled out a gun and shot Trail four to six times.
Chin said the gunman briefly disappeared, then came back before he could phone for help, shot Chin twice, then fired more shots at Trail.
The survivor has said he believes he was deliberately spared by the shooter.
“Chin said he thinks it was Lee’s intent to slow him down so he could not make a call to the police,” Moscow police Sgt. Tyson Berrett wrote in an affidavit earlier filed in court.
Chin believed Lee had a plan and he only shot him in the leg and the arm so he could continue in his plan,” Berrett wrote.
Prosecutors say Lee then headed to Arby’s, where employees recalled seeing him enter the restaurant wearing a black trench coat.
Katelyn Kapps was working at the restaurant that day. She testified that a frantic man came in and asked her to summon the manager. Kapps said she went to get Niebuhr.
Terri Grzebielski was killed in her home.
Lee fled after the shootings, leading police on a high-speed chase before he was eventually arrested in Washington state.
His next court appearance will be Aug. 4.
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