Suspected Moscow shooter pleads not guilty to eluding charge

COLFAX – A man suspected of fatally shooting three people – including his mother – before leading authorities on a high-speed chase is fighting extradition back to Idaho.

John Lee’s decision Friday not to waive the formal extradition process means Idaho Gov. Butch Otter will have to request extradition from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Lee faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder in Idaho. He also faces a charge for eluding police in Whitman County.

Lee, 29, carried out the shootings Jan. 10, authorities said.

“He’s not going to waive extradition at this time,” defense attorney Steve Martonick said Friday.

The short hearing was held in a packed courtroom that included friends of the victims. Lee, who remains on suicide watch, said little other than to plead not guilty to the eluding charge, the result of the chase that occurred after the slayings. Lee has offered no motive for the killings, Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said.

Lee shot and killed his mother, landlord and an Arby’s restaurant manager at three separate locations in Moscow, Idaho, authorities said. Another man who was meeting with the landlord was shot and remains hospitalized.

Police were first dispatched to the office of Northwest Mutual financial services in Moscow after receiving a 911 call from shooting victim Michael Chin, 39, according to court documents.

Officers found David Trail, 76, with multiple gunshot wounds and had him taken to Pullman Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Trail was Lee’s landlord, and Lee lived in an apartment complex above the insurance office.

Chin, who had been meeting with Trail, was shot several times in the arm and leg.

Police then received a report of another shooting at Arby’s restaurant in Moscow. Police found Belinda Niebuhr, 47, lying in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Two women inside the restaurant told detectives they saw a man matching Lee’s description walk in and ask for the manager. Niebuhr came out of the back to speak with him.

One witness told officers she heard the man say: “Do you remember me?” before pulling the trigger of his gun.

The gun clicked and didn’t fire the first few times, a witness told officers.

Niebuhr ran and dove out the drive-thru window but was followed and shot several times, documents said.

Lee drove 8 miles west to Pullman, where police officers tried to stop his car. Lee led them on a pursuit in Whitman County at speeds exceeding 100 mph.

North of Colfax, Lee lost control of his car on U.S. Highway 195 and rolled several times off the side of the road.

Five firearms and a laptop computer were found inside the vehicle, documents say.

After Lee was arrested, Moscow police conducted a welfare check on his parents, Terri and Jerry Grzebielski. Officers found Terri Grzebielski, 61, dead of gunshot wounds in her home. Shell casings from a 9 mm handgun were found at the scene. Jerry Grzebielski was not home when the shooting occurred.

Moscow police Chief David Duke said Friday that officers met with Chin on Wednesday at a Spokane hospital to interview him.

“His condition continues to improve,” Duke said.

In an interview earlier this week, Tracy, the Whitman County prosecutor, said he prefers to finish the eluding case Lee is charged with in Washington and extradite Lee to Idaho after a ruling – but before he finishes a sentence for the Washington charge.

“My intent is in him getting the conviction, not necessarily serving the year,” Tracy said. “I don’t think he will ever be released from prison in Idaho.”