Police get another tip from library about fugitive

By Cleve Wiese

Published: May 6, 2008

As voters on Tuesday streamed into the polling site in the lower level of the Waynesboro Public Library, police descended on the building in response to a report that a violent fugitive might be upstairs.
Within five minutes of receiving the 10:35 a.m. e-mail, eight officers arrived at the library, immediately sealing its entrances and exits, Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker said. Plainclothes officers then searched the building. No one matching Chad Shores’ description was located.
The main section of the library is housed on the upper level.
While serving a four-year sentence for robbery and coercion, Shores escaped in August 2004 from a prison work crew battling a forest fire in Oregon. He has been featured on the “America’s Most Wanted” television show.
Police a week ago received reports that Shores might be in the area.
Police interviewed library patrons and employees, especially those seen using computers, but none reported encountering anyone resembling Shores, Walker said.
There were eight or nine people at Internet terminals when police arrived, library Director Zahir Mahmoud said. There are no security cameras in the building, he said.
Authorities arrived quietly, without sirens, and service was barely interrupted, Mahmoud said. Still, he said he worries the situation might worry library customers.
“I hope they catch this guy, because this is a serious thing and we don’t want our patrons to be frightened,” Mahmoud said.
The raid did not affect voting, Walker said. The library serves as the polling site for the city’s Ward B section.
Authorities were alerted to the possibility Shores was in Waynesboro after receiving a similar e-mail, also sent from the library, Walker said. Following up on the lead, police linked Shores to an individual in Lynchburg – a connection that gave credence to the earlier information, Walker said.
Police are increasingly skeptical that Shores actually sent the emails, but they are not ruling anything out, Walker said.
“We’re leaning heavily towards the possibility that someone, for whatever unknown reason, is purporting to be [Shores] to lead us on,” he said.
Court records indicate that Shores might have several relatives living in the Lynchburg area. Police also have learned of a possible link to Waynesboro, Walker said.
Shores was last seen in February in Hawaii, according to the “America’s Most Wanted” Web site. Shores might have been working in sugar cane fields there as a day laborer, the site said.
Shores now might be living in the Valley under an alias, Walker said. Patrol officers with the Waynesboro and Staunton police departments and the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department have been issued photographs of the fugitive.
Shores is a white male, 6 feet tall, weighing 168 pounds, with brown eyes and hair, according to a news release. He sometimes wears a backwards baseball cap.
Anyone who sees Shores should not approach him but call Det. Ben Lemons at 540-942-6543, the U.S. Marshal’s service or a local police department, authorities said.