LITTLE ROCK — A Louisiana man who went on a crime rampage Thursday that included an attempted theft in Union County committed suicide in the parking lot of a Bass Pro Shop in Oklahoma City as law-enforcement officials closed in Friday.
Stephen Lane Salisbury, 26, of West Monroe, La., went Thursday morning to the house of his wife’s exhusband with a gun looking to kill him, said detective Sgt. Tim Zeigler with the West Monroe Police Department.
When Salisbury learned that the man wasn’t there, he went to the bank where the ex-husband works. Salisburystole a small amount of money from the bank, but was unable to locate the ex-husband and left, Zeigler said.
From there Salisbury went to a grocery store parking lot and attempted to steal a car from a man who refused to give him the vehicle or a ride. When the man, Garland Henley, 58, turned to walk away, Zeigler said, Salisbury shot him in the back and stole the car. Henley later died from the gunshot wound.
Salisbury then went into Union County, just outside El Dorado, where he tried to steal a car from a woman in a grocery store parking lot. His attempt failed.
He then left Arkansas and drove to the Webster Parish, La., area where he commandeered a car occupied by an off-duty Webster Parish sheriff’s dispatcher. The dispatcher fired five shots at him as she rolled out of the car and he drove away, Zeigler said.
Police from Arkansas and Louisiana as well as federal law enforcement officials were looking for Salisbury when the stolen car he was driving was seen in the Oklahoma City parking lot of a Bass Pro Shop about 11 a.m. Friday. As U.S. Marshals and other officers approached, Salisbury committed suicide, Zeigler said.
Zeigler said Salisbury had a 2-year-old son and a 4-yearold stepson.
He said officials don’t know where Salisbury went between leaving Webster Parish and arriving in Oklahoma City, and are searching for any additional victims. He said Friday that there had been tension between Salisbury and his wife’s ex-husband, but he did not know the details.
Arkansas, Pages 19 on 11/21/2010