Athens, Alabama

From the November 2, 2005 Decatur [Alabama] Daily:

ATHENS — "Brutal" and "gruesome" are the adjectives Athens Police Chief Wayne Harper is using to describe the shooting and stabbing death of an 80-year-old Athens man who apparently fought with and shot his assailant.

Police plan to get an arrest warrant charging a suspect, who is in serious condition at Huntsville Hospital, with capital murder.

The victim, Charlie Newman of 611 North Hine St., was a retired contractor and builder who lived alone in his multi-story brick home. Neighbors said he was quiet and kept to himself.

Someone encroached on Newman's solitude Halloween night, shot him once in the chest and stabbed him numerous times, Harper said. The chief did not know the number of stab wounds but said a preliminary autopsy indicates Newman died of massive blood loss.

"I would never in my life have thought Charlie would go down without a fight, so there is some consolation in that he shot the person who did this to him, which probably helped police find a suspect," said Newman's minister, The Rev. Patrick Lawrence of Berea Baptist Church. "I know someone told me they wouldn't want to square off with Charlie even at age 80."

UPDATE: This November 2, 2005 Tuscaloosa News report indicates that someone has been arrested and charged:

A young man who showed up at a Chevron Food Mart in Madison with a gunshot wound to his chest will be charged with the Halloween night murder of an elderly Athens man, Police Chief Wayne Harper said.

Harper said the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was in serious condition at Huntsville Hospital but was expected to survive.

The police chief said the young man, in his early 20s, will be charged with capital murder in the shooting and stabbing death of Charles Newman, 80. The charge carrying a possible death sentence applies because a robbery was involved in the killing at Newman's home Monday night.