Gunman Hid Overnight on JPL Grounds

A holdup-kidnap suspect who took refuge at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena apparently hid at the facility for almost 24 hours before fleeing in a stolen laboratory truck Friday morning--just moments before word reached the gate that he might be on his way.

“We’re trying to ascertain why the vehicle, which needed a trip pass to exit, was able to leave without the pass,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy David Tellez said.

Officers said the search for Timothy M. Howze, 36, had been called off Thursday night, only to be resumed Friday morning after JPL employee George Zakas spotted Howze as he leaped out of a window, climbed into the truck--which had been left with the keys in the ignition--and drove away.

Using a hand-held radio, Zakas reported what he had seen to the laboratory’s security office. Orders were issued to lock the three gates to the sprawling lab grounds, but they came too late.

Pasadena police and sheriff’s deputies combed the grounds for more than two hours before learning that a JPL tram driver--locked outside during the search--had seen a laboratory truck speeding out through the facility’s east gate at about 10:50 a.m., a few minutes before the lock-down began.

Howze, a JPL contract janitorial worker believed by police to have committed several armed robberies in Pasadena in the past few weeks, remained at large Friday night, and the truck had not been recovered.

Pasadena Superior Court records show that Howze, arrested in Pasadena on Feb. 25, 1983, on suspicion of purse-snatching and charged with being under the influence of heroin, was subsequently charged with the armed robbery of a Crocker Bank branch at 1255 N. Lake Ave., Pasadena, that occurred on Feb, 11, 1983. Howze pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced to three years in prison.

In a questionnaire filled out by Howze after his arrest, he indicated a previous booking in Ohio on suspicion of robbery.

According to Pasadena police, Howze’s most recent holdup was at a business near Lincoln Avenue and Palisades Street on Thursday morning--while he was under surveillance by a police helicopter.

As the officers closed in, Howze reportedly eluded them by dashing out onto the Foothill Freeway and flagging down a car. Investigators said he forced the woman behind the wheel to drive onto the grounds of the lab, which serves as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s headquarters for unmanned space exploration.

Opened Fire

Witnesses said police, who had been giving chase in several patrol cars, opened fire as the suspect ran from the hijacked auto and into a lab building, but no one was believed struck by the bullets.

Pasadena police and helicopters, trained dogs, and a special weapons team from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted a painstaking, seven-hour search of the premises before concluding at about 7 p.m. Thursday that “we lost him,” according to Sheriff’s Information Deputy Robert Stoneman.

However, the search was resumed at about 11 a.m. Friday after Zakas--who reportedly knows Howze--radioed in a report that he had seen a man jumping out of a window at Building 80, the abandoned wind-tunnel structure toward which the suspect fled at about noon on Thursday.

Officials said the suspect drove away in the pickup, a white Dodge D-50 model, with various cabinets and drawers on the sides. The government license plate number is NA-5866. A JPL vehicle number, 7267, is painted in black on the bumper or on the side. It has both NASA and JPL logos on both side doors. Plumbing equipment was in the back.

Don Bane, a JPL spokesman, said there are “a lot of buildings, a lot of winding roads and a lot of vehicles” on the 176-acre laboratory grounds--many places where the suspect--and the truck--could have been hidden, giving weight to the possibility that he might still be on the property.

Search Resumed

So the sheriff’s deputies, police officers and security guards resumed their search in earnest Friday, often disrupting the work of the center’s more than 6,000 employees.

Delays were caused because the lock-down interrupted shipments in and out of the facility, and according to JPL spokeswoman Mary Beth Murrill, the drama of the situation and the distraction of the search cost hours of work time.

The focus of the search shifted from the hillside enclave to Southern California at large Friday afternoon when the tram driver reported that he had seen a NASA pickup truck speeding away from the gate.

Records indicated that Howze, a 5-foot, 7-inch black man weighing about 165 pounds, had lived at one time with his wife, Teresa, on Glen Avenue in Pasadena.

Staff writer Michael Seiler contributed to this article.