Thursday, January 27, 2000
Suspect could get life in Christmas slaying
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The man accused of shooting to death a store clerk on Christmas Day will face a possible life sentence if he's convicted.
Altone Shaheed, 19, was indicted Wednesday on charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.
Prosecutors say Mr. Shaheed shot and killed 35-year-old Mabel Malcolm-Washington while robbing Cornell's Grocery Store in the West End.
Mrs. Washington, who had volunteered to work an extra shift that night, was the mother of eight children, ages 5 to 17.
“This is a woman who wasn't even supposed to work that day,” said Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen. “She volunteered to work and got shot for her trouble.”
Because the shooting occurred during a robbery, prosecutors could have sought charges that would have made Mr. Shaheed eligible for a death sentence.
But after reviewing the evidence, prosecutors say, the grand jury decid ed instead to indict on charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Mr. Allen would not discuss details of the evidence presented to the grand jury. “The indictment is based on physical evidence and eyewitnesses,” he said.
Mr. Shaheed is accused of robbing the store at 10:25 p.m. with a .44-cal iber handgun. The store owner, Cornell Hope, was in a back room at the time and heard the gunshot that struck Mrs. Washington in the neck.
He has said the gunman then pointed the gun at him, emptied the cash register and fled the store.
Mrs. Washington's husband, James, has said the couple had just returned to their West End home after a family gathering when his wife decided to go to the store to help out.
Mr. Shaheed, of the 1900 block of Westwood-Northern Boulevard, was arrested 10 days after the shooting.
Police said he still was walking around town with the murder weapon tucked in his waistband.
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