More Threats by Fugitive Told : Manhunt: Additional reports surface on run-ins with the law. Officials seek Douglas Stanley in Utah, Wyoming and Mexico.

The nationwide manhunt continued Saturday for Douglas Frederick Stanley, while new reports surfaced about the murder suspect’s penchant for gunplay.

The fugitive wanted in Thursday’s fatal shooting of his sister-in-law and a co-worker inside a small embroidery firm in Fountain Valley remained at large and police distributed a “Wanted” poster depicting Stanley and the vehicle believed used for his getaway.

Meanwhile, more reports arose of Stanley’s troubled past.

Leonard Matsuk, a Long Beach attorney, said Saturday that in 1981 tenants of a Long Beach apartment complex asked him to file a lawsuit against Stanley for threatening them with a gun. Matsuk said some of the tenants were disabled Vietnam War veterans.

But one of the former tenants who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit said Saturday that a judge issued a restraining order barring Stanley from the apartment complex where he was trying to evict tenants on behalf of the landlord.

“I never thought he would actually shoot anyone, but Stanley boasted to my husband that he had been successful in Texas by evicting tenants at gunpoint,” said the former tenant, who requested anonymity because “Stanley has sufficient reasons to come after me.”

Texas officials could not confirm Saturday whether Stanley had been arrested in the 1975 confrontation in which he allegedly waved a gun in tenants’ faces at a Houston apartment complex.

Fountain Valley police said Stanley, who is said to have an obsession with guns, opened fire with a .38-caliber revolver inside Design-It, a custom embroidery business at 11577 Slater Ave., killing 52-year-old Joyce Lucille Stanley of Westminster, his sister-in-law, and employee Terry Marie Vasquez, 41, of Santa Ana.

The victims, who had been shot several times in the upper torso, were found at 11:42 a.m. Thursday by the suspect’s brother, Charles Stanley, who owned the business with his wife, Joyce.

A warrant seeking Stanley’s arrest on two charges of murder and stealing a car was issued late Friday. If convicted of all the charges, Stanley could face the death penalty, the district attorney’s office said.

State highway patrol and FBI officials in Utah and Wyoming, where police believe Stanley may be headed, reported Saturday that they know of no sightings of Stanley or Joyce Stanley’s silver 1992 Buick LeSabre, California license 2ZTR347, which he is suspected of taking immediately after Thursday’s shooting.

A spokeswoman for Uinta County Sheriff Forrest Bright in Wyoming said deputies Saturday were still on the lookout for Stanley, who lived in the area several years ago and ran into trouble with law enforcement officials in 1989 for allegedly pointing a shotgun at security guards who were patrolling a festival.

Fountain Valley Detective Pat Zehner said there was nothing new in the investigation, but that the department’s special unit on the case was out in force Saturday.

Police said he may be on his way to Wyoming, Utah, Wisconsin or to Ensenada, Mexico, where he traveled to frequently to buy heart medication.

Since moving to Orange County, Stanley had reportedly threatened to harm family members many times.

The suspect had lived with Charles and Joyce Stanley in their Westminster home on Dalewood Lane since having heart surgery more than a year ago and had done odd jobs at the embroidery business since then.

Police have not ruled out the possibility that Stanley is still in the area.

Co-workers and neighbors interviewed after the shootings described Stanley as hostile and angry. They said he owned numerous guns and talked often about them.

Charles and Joyce Stanley were reportedly planning to move to Arkansas and had a for-sale sign outside their home.

Douglas Stanley is described by police as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Fountain Valley Police Department at (714) 965-4483.