Suspect identified by “wild look” of hair

Though he successfully eluded a Philadelphia police dragnet, John Lewis was caught in a Miami homeless shelter after an alert staffer noticed the "wild look" of his hair after Lewis apparently undid his distinctive hair plaits.

Early this morning, the 21-year-old suspected killer of veteran Officer Chuck Cassidy, 54, was arrested after he was led out of a shelter chapel on the pretense that he was needed in the lobby.

When he arrived, he was confronted by a contingent of Miami-Dade police officers who took him into custody without incident.

Much remains unknown about Lewis' 30-hour journey after authorities say he boarded a Greyhound bus Saturday night from somewhere in Delaware and his likely arrival in Miami sometime early yesterday.

What is known is that yesterday afternoon he came in to the Center for Men, a shelter at 2020 N.W. First Avenue run by the Miami Rescue Mission Broward Outreach Center, a faith-based nondenominational homeless facility.

Terri Ramos, a spokeswoman for the shelter, said the man police say is Lewis arrived from the Greyhound bus terminal - a short distance away at 1012 N.W. First Ave. - and told intake staff he was homeless and his name was "Akim Melvin Atwell."

"Atwell" volunteered little else about his background or where he was from, Ramos said, and he easily melted into the group of about 150 men in the 220-bed shelter located between Miami's Midtown and Overtown sections, bordered by an up-scale arts community on one side and a poor drug-plagued section on the other.

The suspect spent a quiet night in the shelter and would have likely still been there had not a shelter staffer caught the morning news on television, which included Lewis' image with a report about the fugitive.

"He said, 'I think that's the guy I saw yesterday,' " Ramos said.

Ramos said the staffer - whom she would not identify - noticed the hair plaits on the television image of the suspect and the fact that the suspect's hair had a "wild look," as if he recently loosened those plaits.

Ramos said the staffer called the man to the office, saying he needed to get his Social Security Number, verified in his mind that the client was the suspect, and then led him to the chapel where about 100 residents of the shelter were at morning prayer.

The staffer returned to the office and called 911, Ramos said. When police arrived, the staffer sent another employee to chapel who told the suspect he was "needed in the lobby."

The suspect, dressed in dark clothing and a large yellow quilted vest, was taken into custody at 6:20 a.m.

Ramos said the suspect was led away without an incident and without saying a word: "He went very submissively."