‘Death Wish’ Suspect to Fight Extradition : Evidently Changes His Mind, Could Delay Return to Manhattan

The man who confessed to New Hampshire police that he shot and wounded four teen-agers on a New York subway has decided to fight extradition--a step that could delay his return to Manhattan, authorities said Tuesday.

Officials initially said Bernhard Hugo Goetz had agreed to waive his extradition rights, but he evidently changed his mind after speaking with a Manhattan prosecutor, said Officer Norris Hollomon, a New York police spokesman.

“He refused to waiver his extradition sometime last night, and he will appear in court . . . where they will work out the extradition procedures,” Hollomon said. He had no details on the reason for Goetz’s decision.

Goetz is to be arraigned today. He was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at Merrimack County Jail in Boscawen, N.H., on fugitive charges, Concord police Lt. James Fletcher said.

The 38-year-old self-employed electronics specialist told police Monday in Concord, N.H., that he was wanted in New York for the Dec. 22 incident, in which a subway passenger drew a .38-caliber revolver and shot four youths who reportedly had asked him for money.

The shooting prompted a wave of support for the gunman, who was dubbed “Subway Vigilante” and “Death Wish Gunman” by the city’s tabloids. Callers to a police hotline urged that he run for mayor.

New York police had been seeking Goetz on the basis of a Dec. 26 telephone tip saying that he resembled a composite sketch of the subway shooter, carried a gun and had been mugged in 1981.

Police offered no explanation why Goetz rented a car, drove to Concord and surrendered there.