On this date, July 7, in 1997, three clerks were forced into a Washington, D.C., coffeehouse freezer and murdered.
One of three victims nearly escaped, making it to the sidewalk outside Starbucks in Georgetown before the gunman wrestled her back inside.
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When the rampage ended, Caitry Mahoney, 25, Emory Evans, 25, and Aaron Goodrich, 18, were dead, their bodies found the next morning by the day shift.
Police developed a suspect, Carl D. Cooper, but had circumstantial evidence. Cooper toyed with the investigators, D.C. homicide detective Jim Trainum and FBI agent Brad Garrett. At one point, Cooper called them to get his gun. When they showed up, he changed his mind, became agitated, left the room and pulled out a video camera and started taping.
The detectives kept at it. Trainum, the good cop, Garrett the bad. Cooper threatened to kill Trainum. Finally, two years after the shooting, Cooper confessed.
He was sentenced to life. Now, 40, he’s being held in a maximum-security facility in Florida.
— Scott McCabe
