3 suspects in Slater shooting arrested

Police have already arrested the three suspects in the fatal gunshooting in Avondale, Cincinnati of a mechanical engineer assigned to a military ship on Saipan.

Baby Gonzales Slater told Saipan Tribune over the weekend that three men were arrested a few days after the shooting of her husband, Woodrow Wilson Slater.

Mrs. Slater said there were three witnesses in the shooting and this led to the arrest of the suspects.

According to news reports from Cincinnati, the Hamilton grand jury indicted last Tuesday the three suspects—William Jones, 24; Reginald Johnson, 23; and Montez Lee, 19. The three are accused of robbing Mr. Slater of his money and his rented 2009 Dodge Avenger.

The three were charged with aggravated murder and robbery. The charges carry a maximum life sentence.

Witnesses told police that they saw three men pull Slater from the Dodge Avenger, beat him, kick him, then shoot him with a handgun.

Mr. Slater, 43, was shot dead in Avondale in the early morning last Sept. 28 (Cincinnati time). He was transported to University Hospital in Ohio where he died from gunshot wounds.

Reports said police were called to the 700 block of South Fred Shuttlesworth Circle at 3:30am where they found Mr. Slater who had been shot.

Mr. Slater was from Mobile, Alabama. According to Fox News the family said Mr. Slater had lived on Saipan for 10 years.

Mr. Slater was employed with Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. in Florida and assigned as an equipment technician and earned the rank of lieutenant colonel at the military ship M/V Bonnyman on Saipan

Mrs. Slater said her husband left Saipan to visit Jim Maddox, his best friend and former co-worker on Saipan.

Mr. Slater was buried last Oct. 6 in Alabama.

Mr. Slater joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed primarily in the Philippines during his nine-year period of service. He achieved the rank of sergeant. He earned the equivalent of an Associate of Arts degree while in the military.

Family members and friends described Mr. Slater, or Woody as they called him, as easy-going guy who cared for all people and would give his shirt off his back and or his last dime.

When he was a boy, he watched a Wild West movie. When the shooting started, he hid under the bleachers.

“Needless to say, he grew out of that fear and proved over and over that he wasn’t scared of anything,” according to a family member.