Lynwood City Employee Held in Slaying of Official’s Husband : Crime: Authorities find assault weapons at home of suspect, who works as graffiti remover. Deputies will not discuss possible motive.

A Lynwood city employee was arrested late Monday night as a suspect in the shooting death of the husband of Lynwood Mayor Pro Tem Evelyn Wells, sheriff’s deputies said Tuesday.

Samuel Baxter, 31, a Lynwood resident who works for the city as a graffiti remover, was arrested near his home. Sheriff’s deputies said he is the only suspect in the murder of Donald Morris, who was found dead early Saturday morning. He had been shot several times in the upper torso.

Deputies would not discuss a possible motive for the murder, nor would they comment on the relationship between Baxter and Morris, who was a part-time cable television production specialist for the city.

Morris, who also worked for the city, publicly accused Wells last week of having an affair with City Manager Laurence Adams Jr., a charge that Wells and Adams deny. Morris obtained a temporary restraining order to keep his wife from their home and City Hall after he said she threatened him with a gun when the two had a heated argument over the allegations. Wells was unable to attend one City Council meeting. The restraining order was lifted Friday.

Wells and Adams voluntarily spoke to authorities about the murder on Saturday morning, and deputies said they were not being investigated as suspects. “Nothing indicates” that the two are suspects, Deputy Benita Hinojos said.

Two assault-type weapons were found at Baxter’s home after he was arrested, deputies said. Neither was believed to have been used in the shooting. Investigators said they think a handgun was used to kill Morris.

Neither Adams nor Wells were available for comment.

Baxter began working for the city in early 1992, when his brother, Stanley Grayer, hired him as part of a three-member graffiti removal team in the Public Works Department. Grayer could not be reached for comment.

“(Baxter) was a big talker, but never about politics or nothing,” said one public works employee, who would only identify himself as Phil.

Baxter has been the subject of at least two restraining orders, and has been in and out of the criminal court system for years, according to court records.

He was convicted in 1982 of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a Lynwood shooting, said attorney Michael Batista, who represented Baxter. A year earlier he was arrested for felony robbery, according to court records. The disposition of that case could not be determined.

In May, 1992, and in January of this year, a Superior Court judge ordered Baxter to stay away from his ex-girlfriend, Doris Hampton, according to public records.

Hampton sought a restraining order against Baxter in 1992, saying that in May of that year, Baxter had come to the home they shared “drunk and under the influence.” When she asked him to turn down the stereo, he slapped her across the face, and later that evening struck her again after he discovered she had smoked his cigarettes, according to a court affidavit.

Six months later, Hampton sought another restraining order, this time saying that Baxter had kicked in her apartment door and threatened her. Baxter was arrested and later pleaded no contest to charges of spousal abuse. “I am afraid for my life if he is released,” Hampton wrote in her request for a temporary restraining order. Hampton could not be reached for comment.

In April, 1992, Baxter pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace when he and several friends were arrested for drinking beer in Oak Street Park.