Teen Held In Officer's Slaying Has Long Record -- Two Others Held; Police Still Trying To Explain Shooting

The 17-year-old youth police say was the gunman in the fatal shooting of Seattle police Detective Antonio Martinez Terry early Saturday has a long history of crimes going back six years.

The youth, identified by police as Quentin Ervin, has numerous convictions dating to 1988. Those crimes include malicious mischief, possessing stolen property, assault, theft, burglary and robbery, according to court records. This spring, Ervin was convicted of criminal trespass for unlawfully entering the Renton Police Department impound garage.

Ervin was to appear in court this morning on an earlier unrelated charge, possessing a dangerous weapon, in this case a knife.

Court records also show that a 25-year-old suspect arrested in connection with the slaying was convicted in King County Superior Court in 1992 for illegally possessing a gun. He was sentenced to three months but was allowed to remain free while appealing the conviction.

Ervin, the 25-year-old man and a 16-year-old youth are being held in the King County Jail for investigation of homicide in Terry's death and were to make court appearances today in connection with the shooting. Police also questioned and released a fourth person, a man in his 20s.

Seattle homicide detectives say they are still trying to piece together why Terry was shot as he apparently came to the aid of some stranded motorists.

Meanwhile, searchers yesterday found a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a gully 30 feet from the highway offramp where Terry was fatally shot. It will be tested to determine if it was the weapon that killed him.

Detectives are asking that anyone who saw what happened or had seen anything before or after the shooting call 684-5550.

Terry, 36, of Burien, died at Harborview Medical Center at 4:01 a.m. Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the left lower abdomen.

He apparently was driving his unmarked police car heading south on Interstate 5 around 1 a.m. when he was flagged down by one of the suspects, police said. He stopped alongside the road near the Swift-Albro exit north of Boeing Field, and walked over to the disabled blue Ford Mustang.

Detectives would not say what was said between the suspects and Terry, but at some point, they said, it became known that Terry was a police officer.

What motive?

Police said they weren't sure if Terry was flagged down because the people with the Mustang were stranded or because they intended to hijack his car.

According to police, Ervin, the 17-year-old, shot at Terry and hit him in the abdomen. Terry then fired back, hitting Ervin. Ervin was treated at Harborview for a shoulder wound, then taken into custody.

After the shooting, Terry drove nearly two miles to the South Precinct, where he told officers what happened before he collapsed. Paramedics stabilized him and in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Terry regained consciousness and was talking.

But in the emergency room, doctors couldn't stop the bleeding.

"It was a very sad night," said Ken Jakobsen, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. "We had so much hope early in the evening."

The first arrests were made about two hours after the shooting with the help of a tow-truck driver, police said. One of the suspects called a tow-truck company to ask that the car be moved from the freeway. To do so requires the owner be present and that state police be summoned. The 25-year-old suspect and a woman rode with the tow-truck driver to the stalled car. There they found state troopers, too. The suspect was arrested; the woman was questioned and released.

Terry's car was not equipped with a police radio. This is so undercover narcotics detectives won't be identified during drug buys.

First in nine years

Terry's death was the first killing of a Seattle police officer in nine years. Officer Dale Eggers, moonlighting as a security guard, was killed during a Beacon Hill bank robbery in 1985.

The discovery of the handgun was a morale booster for many in the department.

Following up a tip, some 40 on- and off-duty police officers and six firefighter volunteers spent the weekend searching a heavily overgrown 50-by-100-yard area just west of the off-ramp where Terry was shot, said South Precinct Lt. Nicholas Metz.

A City Engineering employee, Linda Meyers, discovered the gun around 4:30 p.m.

Terry chose police work for simple reasons, his widow, Cheryl Ann said yesterday through a family friend.

"He wanted to help people and make a difference," said Debbie Barnett, a burglary detective.

Co-workers described Terry as a well-liked and respected officer whose sense of humor endeared him to other officers.

"Everybody is very upset and we're all very sad," Barnett said. "Antonio is going to be missed - I mean, really missed - because everybody knew him and everybody liked him," she said.

Barnett and Terry took tae kwon do classes together. Terry also was a member of the Black Law Enforcement Association of Washington that Barnett leads. The association will honor Terry at its next meeting.

Officers were wearing black tape over their badges to recall the slain officer. Soon, a likeness of Terry's badge will be mounted on a plaque to be posted in the East or South Precinct. He worked at both since joining the squad Feb. 21, 1990.

Born in St. Louis, Terry came to the Puget Sound area in the late 1970s. He graduated from Bethel High in Spanaway, near Tacoma, then attended Clackamas Community College in Oregon.

Terry moved back to the Seattle area to attend the University of Washington, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and played on the Husky football team.

Recruited by teammate

Terry mentioned an interest in police work to a UW football teammate. That man, who became an officer himself, helped to recruit Terry to the police force, Barnett said.

When Terry joined Seattle police, he first worked in the South Precinct. He recently transferred to the narcotics unit, working out of the East Precinct on Capitol Hill.

Terry distinguished himself with solid police work and solid blocking on the police football team. A tight end, he played in the last three annual Bacon Bowls, games between Seattle and Tacoma police to raise money for children's charities.

In his spare time, he enjoyed fishing, camping, cycling and spending time with his family.

Besides his wife, Terry leaves their two young sons, 3-year-old Austin Martinez Terry and 19-month-old Colton Antonio Terry. Terry also has a 13-year-old daughter, Venessa Caballero.

Terry's family remained in seclusion at their home in Burien yesterday.

Neighbors who knew Terry said he didn't hesitate to help people.

"He would do anything to help you - a really, really nice guy," said Bob Barker, who owns the house next door to the Terry family. "He always said, `If you need any help with anything, Bob, let me know.' "

Barker said the Terry family moved to their home about a year a half ago.

"He was a very good neighbor. He loved his family, he loved his job."

Barker moved to Auburn late last year. His daughter lives in the house now, but Barker drops by almost every day and had stayed in touch with Terry.

"I just talked to him a week ago," said Barker. "He was helping me buy a motorcycle."

Added Barker, "It's upsetting to me. . . I just couldn't believe something like that had happened to him - especially off the job."

Barker's daughter, Patricia Graham, said her two young children played with Terry's two little boys.

Antonio and Cheryl Terry "always were out together playing with their kids," said Graham. "They had a real close relationship."

Both also were good neighbors who never hesitated to offer assistance and always took the time to say hello, Graham said.

Another neighbor, Gaylord Pearson, said Cheryl Terry stopped by his home within the last several days and asked if Pearson, who has health problems, needed her husband to mow his lawn.

`Real caring' father

Some neighbors knew Terry only by sight as an athletic man who jogged frequently and who nearly every morning walked his two young sons to day care down the street.

"We'd see him walk every day," said Gloria Downs. "He seemed just really nice. We'd wave to him and he'd smile. The kids are really darling. . . . He looked like a very good father - real caring."

Another neighbor, Carolyn Holmes, said she wasn't aware the man walking his boys was a police officer.

"He would go right past my house - he'd wave," Holmes said. "You don't see too many fathers who spend that much time with their kids. It's real unusual to see a husband walking his children to day care every day."

Rites Thursday

Terry is also survived by his parents, Tommy L. and Tommie Terry of Tacoma; a brother, Brian Terry, and sisters, Yvonne Jones and Monika Terry.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 1634 19th Ave.

Burial will follow at Washington Memorial Park Cemetery. Bonney Watson is handling arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that remembrances be made in the name of Terry's children to Washington Mutual Savings Bank at 7100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S., Seattle, 98118.

The police guild also is setting up a fund for the family. Contributions can be sent to the guild at 2517 Eastlake Ave. E., Seattle, 98102.

"Everyone is concerned that his children will be taken care of," Barnett said.

Times staff reporters Daryl Strickland, Anne Koch, Diedtra Henderson and Helen E. Jung contributed to this report.