- Guest book: Post condolences for Debbie Ross.
- Guest book: Post condolences for Ersie Everett.
The suspect in the fatal double shooting of a toll collector and a transit worker at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toll plaza Tuesday evening was arrested early this morning in Placer County, police said.
Nathaniel Burris, 46, of Richmond, was spotted by a California Highway Patrol unit on Interstate 80 near Baxter, a town in the Sierra mountains, said Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French.
The toll collector has been identified as Deborah Ross, 51, who police say was sharing a home with Burris in Richmond. The second victim has been identified as Ersie Everett, 58, of San Leandro. He was a driver for Golden Gate Transit.
The connection between the suspect and Everett was not immediately clear this
Investigators continue to examine the toll booth where the shooting occurred at about 6 p.m., closing the bridge for several hours. This morning, while that booth has been closed, all other lanes of the toll plaza are open.
Richmond police said this morning that officers were called Sunday to the Second Street home that Burris and Ross shared to respond to a domestic violence call.
A neighbor who lived near Ross and Burris told the Bay Area News Group that he noticed the couple had some money and health problems.
"Nathan was a really nice, cordial guy," said Piere Clark. "We had talked recently about his new job, driving the shuttle. I don't think he cared for it very much. I think he preferred the freedom
Another man who said he was a friend of the couple said Burris had lost his previous job in spring 2008 and applied for a job as a hospital security guard, but when that didn't pan out he took the shuttle position in June.
But the couple were still struggling to make ends meet. Clark said that Ross, who had been ill for much of the past month, had just returned from a retreat with her sisters to Palm Springs, and was considering moving to Tracy so she could live with one of them.
According to Richmond police, Burris called a relative and confessed to the shootings. Richmond police went to the home Burris shared with Ross in the 400 block of Second Street, but did not find him there.
The suspect vehicle was described as a white van with orange-and-black lettering with the words "Western Shuttle" stenciled on the side. It was last seen headed toward Interstate 80, police said, which is where it was ultimately found today.
According to TV reports this morning, officers spotted the vehicle parked by the side of Interstate 80 near Eagle Lake and said it appeared the suspect was asleep.
When he spotted officers, he drove off, going up to 80 mph as deputies followed him.
He suddenly slowed and pulled over and was arrested, said Officer Chris Huffie in an interview with KTVU. He was being held in Placer County jail, where he reportedly was described as being "uncooperative and combative."
Bay Area News Group staff writers Gary Klien, Jennifer Upshaw, Karl Fischer, Roman Gokhman and Robert Salonga contributed to this story.
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