CHICAGO — A man wanted in connection with the deadly shooting of a Seattle gas station clerk last week was arrested in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon.
Michael Anthony O’Neal Fleming, 33, has been on the run since Oct. 13, when Seattle police say he walked into the 76 gas station on Broad Street in the early morning and shot and killed the clerk.
On Oct. 20, Seattle police put out his photo and identifying information, saying he was wanted and armed and dangerous. The same day, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office officially charged him for the gas station murder as police hoped to track down their suspect.
What happened
On Oct. 13, around 4:30 a.m., surveillance cameras show the victim, 36-year-old Graeme Dobbeck, walking into the 76 Station to start his shift.
According to charging documents, the video shows someone believed to be O’Neal Fleming coming out of the shadows and walking toward the building. He couldn’t get in, so he circled the building a few times before entering the nearby 7-Eleven around 5:08 a.m., according to court docs.
He leaves without buying anything and then walks to the 76 station next door.
Court documents say that surveillance video shows him entering the gas station around 5:11 a.m. A person who appears to be Dobbeck can be heard saying something similar to “good morning” on the recording, but there didn’t appear to be an audible response.
The suspect goes to the back cooler, grabs a drink without looking at it and takes it up to the cashier, according to court docs. Dobbek, the clerk, scans the item and can be heard discussing change, docs say.
On that surveillance footage, the suspect walks to the clerk’s door and fires at least three times at close range, according to court documents.
Video shows the suspect leaving, but not in any kind of hurry, docs say. Docs say it doesn’t appear the suspect took any money from the register or on the counter.
Customer Fred Forrest stopped at the gas station to get coffee on his way to work, shortly after the shooting occurred.
Forrest said he became concerned after seeing the security door behind the counter open and no one immediately visible.
“So, I walk, get my stuff, get my coffee, come over, and I’m waiting, and then I see a stool tipped over… that was a bad sign,” Forrest said.
Forrest said he walked behind the counter to investigate further.
“So, I go around the corner, I see money on the ground, and I see the man,” Forrest said.
Forrest found the clerk on the ground surrounded by blood and unresponsive.
He called police, who responded within a few minutes, around 6 a.m.
Identifying a suspect
The owner of the Broad Street 76 gas station location said he believed he knew who the suspect was just by looking at the footage. He identified the suspect as O’Neal Fleming-- a former employee at one of his other gas station locations.
He said he could tell based on the height, weight, body shape and his specific gait. “The suspect appears to walk with a ‘knock-kneed’ gait, meaning his legs came together at the knees, and his lower legs spanned outward,” court docs explain.
According to the store’s owner, O’Neal Fleming’s last shift was Oct. 2. Court documents say he made at least one claim of harassment while working at the other location, but it didn’t appear that Dobbeck was mentioned at all in the reports.
Dobbeck and O’Neal Fleming last texted on the suspect’s last day on the job, but that conversation and others previously were all business and inventory reports, not social chats, court docs said.
Flight and arrest of suspect
On Oct. 9, O’Neal Fleming told the owner of the hotel he had been staying at for four years that he would be moving out by Oct. 13, the day of the shooting, court docs said.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 19, about 2,000 miles away from Seattle, police in Kenosha, Wisconsin were called to do a welfare check on someone. An employee reported that their boss hadn’t been into work in a few days, which was unusual.
Police conducted the welfare check and found 59-year-old Rena O’Neal and 57-year-old Rodney Brushwood dead inside the home from multiple gunshot wounds, according to court docs.
Court documents identified the victims as Michael O’Neal Fleming’s mother and her husband.
Preliminary records indicate the pair were dead for several days.
According to King County court documents, the suspect’s twin brother said he had been texting with him, and that the messages were a bit concerning.
“[The twin brother] reported the content of the texting from Michael suggested he was erratic, delusional and in some sort of mental health crisis. [Brother] reported that Rena said that Michael was currently in Chicago. [Brother] said Michael also asked him for their parents’ address, which he did not provide,” court documents detail.
On Oct. 20, the Kenosha Police Department identified him as a person of interest in Rena O’Neal and Rodney Brushwood’s death. Their agency asked the public to keep an eye out for him.
Earlier in the day on Oct. 20, Seattle police issued a blotter for O’Neal Fleming, identifying him as the suspect in the gas station homicide and calling him “armed and dangerous.”
A few hours after SPD issued the alert that he was wanted, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced that he would be charged once he was caught. Prosecutors asked bail be set at $5 million.
Despite agencies in both Seattle and Wisconsin putting out alerts for O’Neal Fleming, he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Chicago, where his twin said he was living.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 2.
Detectives with Kenosha PD will work with prosecutors in their county to pursue charges.