Accused Idaho gunman may have threatened violence on social media

By Laura Zuckerman (Reuters) - A man accused of killing three people and critically wounding another in the northern Idaho city of Moscow may have made violent threats on social media in the days before the shootings, police said on Monday. John Lee, 29, is accused of killing his mother on Saturday during a shooting spree that also killed his landlord and the manager of an Arby’s restaurant. A fourth person shot in the arm and the leg was recovering from his injuries in a hospital. Each victim was shot multiple times, Moscow Police Chief David Duke said. Lee was arrested Saturday after leading police in nearby Washington state on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed his Honda Fit on an interstate highway. He was jailed on a charge of eluding police pending extradition to Idaho, where an arrest warrant has been issued on murder and attempted murder charges, Duke said. A search of Lee’s car uncovered two semi-automatic handguns, a revolver, a rifle and a shotgun. Lee, who was scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Monday afternoon, may have threatened violence on social media sites, Duke said. “We’re monitoring information that he may have made some comments,” he said. The suspected gunman had no criminal record locally and no recent record of employment in Idaho. Lee is thought to have first shot his mother, Terri Grzebielski, at a home the 61-year-old physician’s assistant shared with her husband, police say. Lee’s father was not at the residence on Saturday when his wife was shot just after 2:30 p.m., Duke said. Lee then drove to a downtown building, where he allegedly shot and killed his landlord, David Trail, 76, and wounded a Seattle man, Michael Chin, 39, who was in the landlord’s office, according to police. Moments later, Lee shot and killed the Arby’s manager – Belinda Niebuhr, 47 – after entering the restaurant and asking to see her, authorities said. Duke said police have not yet been able to determine what triggered the shootings. He said the only connection between Lee and the fast-food business is that his parents frequented it. Duke said Lee had been cited in Moscow, a city of 25,000 that is home to the University of Idaho, for traffic infractions. He said nothing gleaned so far from Lee’s background would have prohibited him from legally possessing a gun. (Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Bill Trott)