The weapon used to fatally stab Mobile Police Officer Steven Green in the neck and back on Feb. 3 was a small 3-inch knife that authorities believe was hidden on robbery suspect Lawrence Wallace Jr.’s body when he was arrested for trying to hold up a dollar store.
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| Mobile Police Chief Micheal T. Williams |
“The necklace that Wallace had around his neck had nothing to do with injuries or stabbings. It’s not the weapon.” The small knife that was recovered is “consistent with the stab wounds and was not something that would have been concealed in the medallion,” Williams said.
A preliminary investigation also revealed that Wallace had a small handcuff key in his shoe that he likely used to slip out of the restraints while being transported from police headquarters to Mobile County Metro Jail.
“We believe somewhere between police headquarters and Metro, Wallace took his handcuffs off,” Williams said. “We believe the handcuff key was concealed somewhere on his body. We don’t know where. We may never know where.”
The escaping Wallace fatally stabbed Green at the sally port of the jail last Friday. Police tracked him down a short time later and eventually shot and killed him in an exchange of gunfire as he hid beneath a home
“This was one of those life and death gunfights you hear about or see on television,” Williams said, “where the suspect refuses to surrender.”
Here’s what police have pieced together from video surveillance at the jail, accounts from witnesses and a preliminary autopsy report:
At 11:10 a.m. Feb. 3, Wallace took several hats and a can of lighter fluid to the store register. Eventually, he demanded cash from the register and safe, police said. When the clerk refused, Wallace began squirting lighter fluid on a store display. An off-duty police officer restrained him. Police were called at 11:13 a.m. and arrived four minutes later, according to a police call log.
Williams, and Capt. Jack Dove, who worked the crime scene that day, said that Wallace was patted down and searched before leaving the parking lot. Green took Wallace to police headquarters where he was escorted upstairs. Robbery detectives interviewed him, then charged him with robbery and arson.
Williams said Wallace was handcuffed behind his back and escorted from the back door to the police cruiser.
Officer Green drove him from headquarters to the Metro Jail, which is typically a 10-minute trip. Wallace pretended to be handcuffed when Green took him out of the car at the jail, Williams said. “He escorted Wallace toward the intake door and they stood there for a moment side by side.”
Then, they faced each other, Williams said, adding that Wallace took his left hand and placed it near his nose. The officer reached for the suspect’s left hand “and when he did it was clear that Wallace had armed himself,” Williams said. There was a brief struggle and “he stabbed the officer once in the neck and once in the back.”
During the fight, Green dropped his keys. Wallace picked them up, jumped into the police cruiser and rammed it through the sally port door. There were at least two others in the vicinity when Green was bringing Wallace in, Williams said, who likely saw what happened through nearby glass windows.
Wallace drove to Interstate 10 and headed west. After a few miles, he exited on the southbound Dauphin Island Parkway ramp. Chief Williams said when he heard an officer had been wounded, he got in his car and headed in the direction of the stolen police car.
From DIP headed south, Wallace turned left onto Cedar Crescent Drive. He made a turn onto Jacksonville before ditching the vehicle on Daytona, police said. Officers arrived within minutes, and began searching for Wallace on foot, Williams said.
Wallace hid under a house in 1400 block of Daytona.
“We knew we had him contained,” Williams said. “Officers began to search and as they approached he began to fire shots. ... The officers returned fire.”
Chief Williams said he was already on the scene when the first shots were fired.
Wallace grabbed two service weapons he found in Green’s police car, which were .40-caliber handguns, which he then used to shoot at officers surrounding the home where he was holed up.
After the first rounds of gunfire from Wallace and police, there was a tense, nearly hour-long period when authorities said they tried to get Wallace to surrender. Police told him to “come out and show your hands” Williams said.
During the cease fire, teams of police went door-to-door trying to safely evacuate neighbors if they could. Multiple containers of tear gas were lobbed under the home in an effort to get Wallace out.
During the lull in gunfire “we were not sure if he was injured or dead at that point,” Williams said. “The position and location of the home made it dangerous for us to approach. He had an advantage. He could see out but we couldn’t see underneath the house.”
Ultimately, Williams said, “officers approached the home. Wallace fired more shots.” In the gunfire, a detective was wounded. Police fired back at Wallace, killing him.
Wallace, who was shot multiple times by at least two different weapons, received wounds to his hands, arm and torso, Williams said.
Green, a police officer for nearly two years, was laid to rest Wednesday at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens. More than 500 people attended a standing-room only service at the Sunlight District Auditorium in Prichard, where hundreds more stood outside to pay their respects.
Green, 36, is survived by his wife, three children, his parents and six brothers and sisters.
In the days following the officer’s death, Williams said, he has received cards and letters containing nearly $20,000 he plans to give to Green’s family.
“It touches my heart,” the chief said. “The support of all the people in Mobile. It is overwhelming to know that people have that kind of kindness.”
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