Looking back at the three-day hostage situation that unfolded at Seaboard Station in downtown Raleigh starting on Friday, October 8, 1982.

These pics originated from News and Observer and Raleigh Times photographers (and likely others) were transmitted far and wide, via AP and UPI.

Question for older timers, how far/close was the yellow tape back then? And could news crews get closer? Doubt that same shots are possible today at a similar incident, at least via cameras on the ground.

Below are narrative notes. See also the original newspaper clippings in the Google Drive folder, linked at bottom.

Amtrak Silver Star Bound for Raleigh

The incident started about 6:00 a.m. aboard the Amtrak Silver Star passenger train with 144 passengers, heading to New York City from Miami. Passengers aboard sleeper car #2475 heard screaming and shouting and what sounded like gunshots.

The train pulled into Raleigh at 7:30 a.m. Just before its arrival, the baggage master saw three bullet holes outside a passenger compartment, along with what looked like a .45 caliber slug.

The Raleigh Police Department responded, as well as Raleigh fire and Wake County EMS units. The latter would remain on scene through the entire, multi-day incident.

SEU Surrounded the Car

Raleigh police, including Selective Enforcement Unit (SEU) members, surrounded the car. Inside the compartment was a passenger listed as W. Rodriguez (an alias), who boarded in Jacksonville with a woman and two children. The children were three and seven months old.

Prior to the gunshots heard at 6:00 a.m., passengers heard people yelling in the cabin about 4:30 a.m.

After police arrived, they used an interpreter and bullhorns to talk to the suspect. At about 9:00 a.m., they heard what sounded like a shot inside the compartment.

Just before 11:00 a.m., they used “listening devices and stethoscopes” and heard a man and a baby in the compartment. Using a “periscope device,” they could see inside the compartment and saw him loading a weapon.

More shots were fired that morning. Four other passengers were in the car and travelling with the family. They left unharmed, two hours after all other passengers were evacuated, when the train first arrived.

Incident Continued into Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday, the second day of the standoff, a statement from a Wake Medical Center physician was played to the suspect, telling him that his infant child was in danger of dehydration if his baby didn’t receive nourishment within 36 to 48 hours.

On Sunday, the third day of the standoff, the suspect released the three year-old girl to police about 1:00 a.m. She was transported to Wake Medical Center and was reportedly in good condition after being given IV fluids.

Suspect Surrendered

The suspect surrendered to police at 5:45 a.m. Inside the train, police found the bodies of a woman and her nine month-old son.

Police identified the man as Evangelista Navas Villabona, 29, a native of Bucaramanga, Colombia. They believed the dead woman was his sister, Isabel Ramirez. The dead infant was her son John.

The boy was believed to have died from dehydration late Sunday. The child’s mother died of gunshot wounds. The suspect did not give any reasons for his actions.

Various Details

Other snapshots of the incident as cited in news accounts:

• Interpreters cited in news stories included Jorge Aliva of Wake County EMS and Carmelo Acevedo with the city Public Works Department.
• Police Chief Fred Heineman was on scene through the standoff, and one night “reportedly got some sleep in a large Winnebago recreation vehicle parked next to the terminal.”
• Also, on one of the mornings, police built a shield of wood and Plexiglas, to more safely approach the train. “As dawn approached, the whir of an electric saw and banging of hammers broke the silence.”
• The total time of the incident was about 70 hours.
• Police refrained from rushing into the six-by-ten foot compartment out of concern for the children.

Responding Agencies

The incident involved “half of the Raleigh police department, more than two dozen FBI agents, dozens of Raleigh firefighters and EMS crews, the Wake Sheriff’s department, the SBI, and the state highway patrol.”

Noted a news story, the jammed parking lot was filled with numerous patrol cars, at least two ambulances, a fire truck, the aforementioned RV, a city dump truck, and TV broadcasting trucks.

The Durham React CB club also had a van at the scene and sold coffee and food.

Investigation

On Monday, Raleigh police, City-County Bureau of Investigation officers, the county medical examiner, and FBI agents entered the compartment to begin their investigation.

They recovered two weapons, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and apparently a MAC-10 semi-automatic machine gun. The pistol was dropped out of a window to police on Sunday night. Villabona gave the machine gun to police when he surrendered.

They also found $5,000 in cash in the suspect’s passenger compartment.

The suspect was later determined to have ties to the illegal drug trade and had served time in federal prison.

Timeline

Transcribed from the News and Observer on October 11, 1982.

Here is a chronology of events in the Raleigh train hostage situation. Times are approximate.

Thursday

• 10:40 p.m. — W. Rodriguez, woman, two children—one 3 or 4, the other about 9 months—board sleeping car No. 2475 in Jacksonville, Fla., bound for New York.

Friday

• 5:45 a.m. — Passengers in car hear child crying in Rodriguez compartment and loud argument in Spanish.
• 6:35 a.m. — Shots fired in Rodriguez compartment.
• 6:45 a.m. — Train arrives in Raleigh.
• 7:26 a.m. — Conductor calls police; five of nine other passengers on sleeping car escape. Police soon have car surrounded.
• 8:30 a.m. — Three cars uncoupled, with the Rodriguez compartment in the middle car.
• 9 a.m. — Shot fired inside compartment.
• 9:30 a.m. — Four passengers remaining in sleeping car evacuated. Police try to talk with Rodriguez. He is silent.
• 10:20 a.m. — Train continues to New York.
• 11:50 a.m. — Several shots fired in compartment.
• 12:30 p.m. — Four more shots fired. Speculation grows that woman has been killed.
• Afternoon-evening — Police efforts to negotiate with Rodriguez and offers of food and liquid meet silence. Police hear children crying.
• 8 p.m. — Shot fired inside compartment.

Saturday

• 12:20 a.m. — Rodriguez breaks silence, tells police in Spanish, “Everything is OK.”
• 9:55 a.m. — Rodriguez tells police he is holding gun to head of one of the children.
• 11 a.m. — Doctor arrives at site to monitor children’s condition. “The 3-year-old keeps asking her mother to wake up,” Dr. Susanne White said later. “There’s no answer.”
• 11:37 a.m. — Two shots fired inside compartment. Sounds lead police to suspect Rodriguez has machine gun.
• 1 p.m. — Rodriguez threatens to kill himself and the children. Asks for orange juice and matches. Police offer Rodriguez water to let children go. Child heard crying, “Agua, agua,” Spanish for water. Rodriguez shouts at child to be quiet.
• Afternoon — Negotiation efforts continue. Rodriguez alternates between yelling obscenities at police and threatening violence. Offers of food and liquid refused.
• 6 p.m. — Rodriguez fires two shots as police place mattresses outside his door.
• 6:30 p.m. — Police Chief Frederick K. Heineman reports Rodriguez has said woman is dead. Rodriguez said the woman was a sister and the children were hers.

Sunday

• 2:40 p.m. — Rodriguez opens compartment window, gestures to police, ducks back inside. He later gives police two telephone numbers to call in New York, asks to see godfather.
• 3:40 p.m. — Rodriguez accepts food for first time.
• 8 p.m. — Rodriguez trades pistol for cigarettes and soft drinks.
• 11 p.m. — Hospital notified infant was dead.

Today (Monday)

• 1:10 a.m. — Older child brought to hospital alive.

Sources

• RT, Oct 8, 1982 – Gunfire in sleeping car halts train
• RT, Oct 9, 1982 – Standoff continues at rail car
• N&O, Oct 9, 1982 – Amtrak gunman, police in standoff; wife may be hurt
• N&O, Oct 9, 1982 – Nine riders in car No. 2475 jarred by sounds of shots, sight of police
• RT, Oct 9, 1982 – ‘We are concerned about the kids’
• N&O, Oct 10, 1982 – Train gunman says woman dead
• N&O, Oct 11, 1982 – Children off train; baby dead
• N&O, Oct 11, 1982 – ‘The 3-year-old keeps asking her mother to wake up’
• N&O, Oct 11, 1982 – Train hostage situation draws crowd of curious
• RT, Oct 11, 1982 – Train siege ends in surrender; woman, baby dead; child OK
• RT, Oct 11, 1982 – Descriptions portray man of extremes
• RT, Oct 11, 1982 – A night of shadows
• RT, Oct 11, 1982 – Released child is ‘happy and playful’
• N&O, Oct 12, 1982 – Gunman surrenders; drug conviction cited
• N&O, Oct 12, 1982 – DSS flooded by calls offering help to child
• N&O, Oct 12, 1982 – Calming of gunman shaped end of siege
• N&O, Oct 12, 1982 – Authorities say gunman on train was illegal alien
• RT, Oct 12, 1982 – $5,000 cash found in Amtrak siege car
• RT, Oct 12, 1982 – Interpreter for police ‘was scared’
• N&O, Oct 13, 1982 – Police find $5,000 in Amtrak car
• N&O, Oct 13, 1982 – Man believed to be girl’s father encouraged to come to Raleigh

View copies of articles in this Google Drive folder.

More Pictures