Abortion-Clinic Killer Commits Suicide In Prison -- John Salvi Found Dead In His Cell; He Was Convicted Of '94 Rampage

WALPOLE, Mass. - John Salvi, who was convicted of killing two people and wounding five in a shooting spree on two abortion clinics, has killed himself in prison.

Salvi, 24, was found dead this morning. "It appears to be a suicide," Department of Correction spokesman Anthony Carnevale said.

Ann Marie Salvi said she was told her son had died of asphyxiation.

Salvi was convicted in the Dec. 30, 1994, rampage and sentenced to two consecutive life terms March 18. Jurors rejected claims he was insane.

In July, he was transferred to the state's maximum-security prison in Walpole.

A law-enforcement source said that Salvi was found alone in his locked cell with a plastic bag over his head.

Salvi was at least the fifth state inmate to kill himself since July 1995. His lawyers said that he twice had tried to commit suicide in jail, a charge authorities have denied.

Salvi's mother said she had told prison officials she believed her son was in danger of hurting himself.

Defense lawyers at the trial said their client was a paranoid schizophrenic.

But prosecutors argued that Salvi was lucid and planned his crime. They noted Salvi practiced at a firing range the day before the killings, stocked up on 1,000 hollow-point bullets and even cut his hair after the attack to disguise his appearance.

Salvi, an apprentice hairdresser, walked into the Planned Parenthood clinic in the Boston suburb of Brookline, pulled out a

.22-caliber rifle and opened fire, killing receptionist Shannon Lowney, 25, and wounding three others.

Then, he drove two miles to the Preterm Health Services clinic and killed receptionist Lee Ann Nichols, 38, and injured two.

"This is what you get! You should pray the rosary!" Salvi screamed as he shot Nichols, witnesses said.

Salvi was arrested the next day when he fired at least 23 shots at a Norfolk, Va., abortion clinic.

"I've always wondered what my daughter's last thoughts were when he killed her," Nichols' mother, Ruth Nichols, said today. "And I wonder what John Salvi's last thoughts were after bringing so much grief, pain and sorrow to so many people.

"He was a bad boy who grew up to be a bad man. God have mercy on his soul."