WILMINGTON - The nationwide search for the gunmen who fired on police in Wilmington over the weekend turned into two public appeals Tuesday.
On one front, investigators released a police cruiser videotape showing the gunmen shooting at police in hope that someone watching it will recognize the men and turn them in.
On another front, the leader of the Clinton County chapter of the Aryan Nations staged a late-evening press conference urging people to join his group and warning his members to be wary of federal authorities who have joined the investigation.
The nationwide hunt now involves
the Ohio Highway Patrol, Ohio Bureau of Investigation and Identification, the FBI, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The FBI has characterized the incident as a case of ''domestic terrorism.''
Police were not releasing names of suspects Tuesday, stressing that the gunmen have not been identified. Sgt. John Born, a patrol spokesman, said the patrol hopes to file charges by week's end.
A document being circulated among police departments names two white supremacists - Jake Settle, 39, and Chevie Kehoe, no age available - whom police want to question.
A woman whose two daughters had married Mr. Settle and Mr. Kehoe in Aryan ceremonies told The Enquirer Tuesday that Mr. Settle is a cold-blooded hatemonger and a violent confrontation with police was inevitable.
''I knew sooner or later .Ç.Ç. that Jake would wind up in the headlines,'' said the woman.
The woman said one of her daughters married Mr. Settle in an Aryan Nations ceremony in 1987 and they have five children together. She hasn't seen them since 1991 but spoke with her daughter last year.
The Rev. Harold ''Ray'' Redfeairn, who admitted shooting a Dayton, Ohio, police officer in 1979, was dressed in Nazi-like attire Tuesday evening to meet with The Enquirer. He said Mr. Settle and Mr. Kehoe are not connected with his group and he played down the possibility they were in the area for an anti-black history month rally on the steps of the statehouse Sunday in Columbus. The rally attracted many white supremacists.
''We have no personal knowledge of those fellows,'' he said.
The Rev. Mr. Redfeairn, pastor of the Jesus Christ Christian Church in New Vienna, Ohio, recorded a ''special announcement'' for the people of Clinton County on his answering machine Tuesday.
''The true terrorists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or the Federal Bureau of Intimidation, and the BATF, are in your county,'' he said in the recording. ''Beware. There is grave danger in your county while these people are there.''
The message goes on to discuss the storming of David Koresh's compound and the shootings at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, saying that the representatives of the federal ''Zionist-occupied government'' are the real problem.
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subhed A man to be feared
While the nationwide search continues, the Spokane woman said she is fearful - but not surprised.
She said Mr. Settle has been to her house ''countless times.'' The woman, whose younger daughter ran away in 1993 and ''married'' Mr. Kehoe, said she did not want her name used out of fear for her family's safety.
In 1993, after prompting from the older daughter, the second daughter, then 18, ''married'' Mr. Kehoe in an Aryan ceremony in Idaho, then embarked on a 54-day cross-country drive from the Northwest to Orlando, Fla. with Mr. Kehoe's other ''wife'' and their 21-
month-old daughter. She has returned to the family while the older daughter remains married to Mr. Settle, the mother said.
The Spokane woman said she met Mr. Kehoe once briefly and had no strong impression. Mr. Settle initially was charismatic and friendly with a good sense of humor, she said. He eventually revealed himself as a ardent white supremacist who had ''many, many'' guns, despite the fact that he didn't hunt, she said.
''Jake is probably one of most cold-blooded, most evil persons I've ever met,'' she said. ''He has my daughter in his grip. He's a man to be feared. He talks Christianity out of one side of his mouth and hate out the other, but he knows the Bible better than most.''
The Arkansas connection
Police are investigating whether the Chevrolet Suburban abandoned in the Wilmington shootout belongs to a third Northwest man, Sean Michael Haines, 19, a known Aryan youth leader.
Mr. Haines was arrested Dec. 10 in Sioux Falls, S.D., on a charge of grand theft. A check of the serial number on a gun in his vehicle revealed it was stolen from William Mueller of Tilly, Ark. Mr. Mueller, his wife, 28, and her daughter, 8, were found killed in a remote Arkansas waterway last year, six months after they disappeared on their way to a gun show. The Muellers have been connected with white supremacists in Arkansas.
Mr. Kehoe, Mr. Settle and Mr. Haines all have clear ties to the Aryan Nations in Washington state, said Bill Wassmuth, executive director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harrassment, which monitors the activities of hate groups in six states.
While the Ohio chapter of the Aryan Nations group has denied any connections to the men, Mr. Wassmuth said that is typical of the organization.
''Anytime that anybody starts to run into trouble with the law, the leadership abandons them immediately,'' Mr. Wassmuth said. ''The level of loyalty with these people is not high.''
Tanya Bricking and Lucy May contributed to this report.
Previous stories
FBI JOINS HUNT FOR GUNMEN Feb. 18, 1997
SHOOTOUT MAY BE LINKED TO KILLINGS Feb. 17, 1997
