SUSPECT KILLS SELF: Joseph Ferguson said 'he was going to outdo (Nikolay) Soltys...'

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Suspect in 5 slayings dead after shootoutBy Sam Stanton and Ted BellBee Staff Writers Updated: Sept. 10, 2001 - 1:23 a.m.A 20-year-old security guard who went on a 24-hour rampage that left at least five people dead and two others wounded shot himself to death early Monday after being cornered by authorities near Folsom Boulevard and Zinfandel Drive.Joseph Ferguson, the subject of a huge manhunt after four shootings Saturday in Sacramento, was found dead inside a stolen car shortly after midnight and following a gunbattle with pursuing officers. Joseph Ferguson is shown in this undated photo made available by the Sacramento Police Department.AP Photo/Sacramento Police Dept. His death came within minutes of him wounding a California Highway Patrol officer twice in the arm and critically wounding a motorist nearby.The final chapter of Ferguson's brief, troubled life came after he had fled a home in the 3500 block of Scorpio Drive in Rancho Cordova, where he apparently had been hiding since early Sunday. Authorities believe he shot and killed a man living there about 9 p.m., then left the home with the man's wife and dropped her off unharmed several miles away.Ferguson gave her a videotape and fled in the couple's car but was spotted within a few hours and shot the CHP officer in the 3300 block of Zinfandel Drive.The name of the officer and the fifth victim had not been released earlier today, but officials said they believed Ferguson knew the slaying victim from working with him at Burns International Security.Ferguson was cornered near a restaurant parking lot and opened fire with an automatic rifle, using a stolen car as a shield to reload clips."He was ripping off rounds," said Damon Bobo, who watched the battle from a nearby hotel lobby.After several minutes of loading clip after clip into his rifle, Ferguson got back into the front of his car and later was found with what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound.His death ended a tense night for officials, who upon discovering the fifth body feared Ferguson would make good on threats to kill many others."This is your worst nightmare," sheriff's Capt. John McGinness said after the fifth body had been found.Sheriff Lou Blanas had ordered all deputies to remain on duty through the night and to work in two-man teams."I want no one going out alone," Blanas told officials.Within an hour, authorities heard the report of an officer down and converged on a Jack in the Box restaurant at Zinfandel and Folsom.Ferguson was believed to be armed with an automatic rifle and other weapons, but he shot himself to death at some point in the battle, officers said.He remained inside his vehicle with his legs and feet, which were clad in black combat boots, sticking out a window without moving, until an armored police van inched up to the car and nudged it.When he did not move, officers moved in on the car and discovered him dead.Authorities said Ferguson apparently had taken the couple on Scorpio hostage early Sunday after the Saturday killing spree. They were tipped to his location after Ferguson allegedly shot the husband and then drove the woman several miles to Goethe Road, where he dropped her off unharmed with the videotape. Authorities did not disclose the contents of the tape.The fifth victim was found 22 hours after Ferguson allegedly started a rampage sparked by a failed relationship and the imminent loss of his job as a security guard for Burns International Security.Ferguson was suspected in the Saturday killings of three on-duty co-workers from Burns - including a former girlfriend - and a 19-year-old bystander. Another security guard was later found unharmed, handcuffed to a tree at the Sacramento Zoo.Law enforcement officials had been visibly nervous about the prospect of Ferguson remaining at large, possibly with a huge cache of weapons, and noted that the manhunt evoked memories of the Nikolay Soltys case, in which six Soltys relatives, including his pregnant wife, were slain three weeks ago.Authorities identified the dead from Saturday's rampage as Burns employees George Nague Bernardino, 47; Marsha Jackson, 32 and a single mother of three; and Nina Susu, 22, who was believed to have been Ferguson's ex-girlfriend.Also killed was 19-year-old John Derek Glimstad, who worked at the Miller Park marina and had recently started the night shift there so he could take a morning tennis class.During his rampage, sources said, Ferguson compared himself to Soltys and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. His background led authorities to conclude he is an extremely troubled young man.Police searching the Meadowview area home he shared with his father and brothers Sunday found racist materials, including some from the World Church of the Creator. They also found a number of weapons and a makeshift bunker beneath the house that sources said may have been used for target practice.The home's back yard is surrounded by an 8-foot fence, with barbed wire on the top and floodlights around the perimeter. Doberman pinschers patrolled the yard Sunday.Burns Security told all of its 150 guards scheduled to work Sunday to stay home, forcing the closure of the Crocker Art Museum and the Central Library."The fact of the matter is, city facilities are not the target here," City Mangaer Bob Thomas said. "The target was Burns security officers. People should not feel unsafe in city facilities."Authorities had placed extra security around various sites, including synagogues. A $130,000 reward for Ferguson's capture was being offered.Ferguson had a roster of Burns Security officials and may have been targeting supervisors who had suspended him.Law enforcement officials late Sunday questioned whether Burns employees should have been checked on to ensure their safety through the ordeal, but it was unclear whether Burns or other officials had done that.The trouble began last week, sources said, when Ferguson and his girlfriend broke up and he attacked her car with an ax, leading to his suspension.Burns officials contacted the FBI on Friday afternoon to discuss their concerns about Ferguson's potential for violence, but officials could not say Sunday how far agents went toward responding to the call."He has been despondent after breaking up with his girlfriend," Police Chief Arturo Venegas Jr. said Sunday afternoon at City Hall.Sources said Ferguson spent hours Saturday practicing his marksmanship at an area shooting range.The first attack came about 11:18 p.m. at the city's corporation yard, 5730 24th St. Authorities believe Ferguson drove there in his El Camino and rammed a Burns security truck, which he later stole.From there, police said, he went to the Burns Security building at the yards and shot Jackson and Susu. Police found a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol at that scene.The security building there also is the Burns communications center for the area, and Ferguson left with a Burns cell phone and radio device that sources said he used to call other employees, threatening to shoot or kill them.Ferguson made numerous threats about shooting patrons at nightclubs downtown and elsewhere, police said.Half an hour later, police got a call of shots being fired at the city marina at Miller Park near the west end of Broadway. Officers found two men dead there of multiple gunshot wounds - Bernardino and Glimstad - and a jammed MAC-10 semiautomatic rifle.From there, officials said, Ferguson drove the stolen truck to the Land Park Zoo, where he rammed through a rear gate and abducted another Burns Security guard, whom he left handcuffed to a tree.That guard, Diana Phountz, already had been warned that Ferguson was roaming the area after getting a call on her cell phone-radio from her cousin, who also worked for Burns and knew of the killings."Get out of there," he warned, but the line went dead.An hour later, anxious relatives waiting for word heard the Burns radio crackle again with Phountz calling to say that she was alive but handcuffed to a tree at the zoo. As a police helicopter flew overhead, she used a flashlight to help them pinpoint her in the thickly planted zoo grounds.Phountz remained out of sight Sunday for safety reasons, and several other potential targets - including the parents of Ferguson's ex-girlfriend - were placed under police protection.Sources said that during Phountz's ordeal, Ferguson mentioned McVeigh, the executed bomber, and "the Russian," an apparent reference to Ukrainian immigrant Soltys, who has been charged in seven slayings.Ferguson disappeared after leaving the zoo in Phountz's car, a 1992 green Toyota Tercel, which was found outside the Scorpio Drive house Sunday.A neighbor on Scorpio Drive, Salvador Castro, 29, said he first spotted the Tercel at 7 a.m. Sunday parked on the street. At noon Sunday, Castro said he saw a man resembling Ferguson come out of the victim's home and drive down the street, then turn around and return and go back inside.All during the day, meanwhile, authorities were at Ferguson's father's home on Kirk Way, sifting through possible evidence.Police kicked down the front door of the home early Sunday, searching for Ferguson, but officials said Ferguson's father, Tom, was cooperating with the investigation.Ferguson comes from an extremely troubled background. His mother is serving a 14-year jail sentence for molesting him and one other boy. Neighbors described Ferguson and his family as being largely anti-social and expressing racist beliefs, at times."It doesn't surprise me," Ferguson's uncle, Ned P. Cullar, said when he learned of the shootings. "I fully expected him to be one of those snipers on a rooftop someday."In 1999, Cullar and Tom and Joseph Ferguson ended up in court over allegations that the Fergusons were spreading rumors about Cullar in the neighborhood.Cullar, who is the brother of Joseph Ferguson's mother, said his nephew had been a normal, young teenager until he became influenced by his strict father."He would answer his father, `Yes, sir, sergeant major, sir.' It was a game they would play," Cullar said.An attorney who represented the Fergusons said he was surprised."I find it hard to believe, after having interacted with the Ferguson family now for three years, that anything of this nature would be in Joe's life plan," Michael Barber said. "I'm in absolute shock." http://www.sacbee.com/news/beelive/show_story.cgi?Guard_Killings