By Maria Elena Fernandez and Cheryl W. Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 5, 1999; Page A1

From the Post Police survey the scene at 1810 Wisconsin Ave. NW after the July 7, 1997, Starbucks slayings. (File photo by Bill O'Leary – The Washington Post) • March 4: Sources: Starbucks Questioning Continues • March 3: Man Questioned in Series of Crimes • July 6, 1998: Killings Remain Unsolved • Sept. 30, 1997: Police Delay Seizing Possible Evidence • July 8, 1997: 3 Slain at D.C. Starbucks

The Washington man whom police have been questioning in connection with the triple slaying at a Starbucks coffee shop is cooperating with authorities and has led them to two other men with knowledge of the case, including one who lived in the same building as one of the victims, law enforcement officials said yesterday.

Prince George's County police said Carl Derek Havord Cooper, 29, repeatedly waived his right to have an attorney present as he was questioned by authorities at county police headquarters over the course of more than two days.

Cooper "has provided some information about the case that we regard as useful, but we still have to have sufficient information to justify charging any individual," D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said yesterday.

Cooper steered authorities to Keith Covington, 32, of Mount Rainier, who lived in the same building as Emory Allen Evans, one of the Starbucks victims. Covington was arrested yesterday on an outstanding warrant and charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, authorities said. He was taken to the FBI Washington field office and later to Prince George's police headquarters for questioning. Cooper also identified a third person to police, but that person has not been questioned, Ramsey said.

Covington's mother, Lois, said yesterday that her son had previously lived in an apartment below Evans's. The two men were acquaintances, and the morning Keith Covington learned about the killings, his first thought was to buy flowers to place at Evans's apartment door, she said.

"We were talking about it," said Lois Covington, who paid her son's rent when he lived in the Northeast Washington apartment. "He said he wanted to get some flowers, and I took him to get them. It was either a rose or a carnation in a vase. That's the kind of person he is."

The slayings of Evans, 25, Mary Caitrin "Caity" Mahoney, 25, and Aaron David Goodrich, 18, on July 6, 1997, shocked the upscale Burleith neighborhood in Northwest Washington and received national media attention. The three coffee shop employees were shot execution-style during a botched robbery attempt, police said. Nothing was taken from the cash register, and the safe was unopened, they said.

Although it is known that two handguns of different caliber were used in the shootings, police have not determined how many shooters were involved.

"There's a variety of scenarios that we're looking at," Ramsey said. "Just because an individual has knowledge or was present during a crime does not mean that you have enough evidence to charge him with an offense. We are at a very sensitive point in this investigation. We are aggressively following up on all the leads, and we feel very good about this recent break."

D.C. police and the FBI began watching Cooper last summer after a tip from a female acquaintance, law enforcement sources said. D.C. police had a wiretap authorized last year on Cooper's home phone. Cooper has criminal records in the District and Montgomery County on a variety of charges, including armed robbery, drug possession with intent to distribute, and stealing a vehicle.

Police have charged Cooper in the 1996 shooting of Bruce Howard, an off-duty Prince George's police officer, in a Hyattsville park. In addition to questioning him about the Starbucks slayings, they have questioned him about another homicide in the District and other crimes in Prince George's and Pennsylvania, Ramsey said. Although Prince George's Police Chief John S. Farrell said Cooper has implicated himself in some crimes, Ramsey said he could not speculate whether charges against any of the men are imminent.

"Charges will not be filed until we're comfortable that we know what happened on the night that those three individuals were killed inside that Starbucks, and we're just not there yet," Ramsey said. "Our goal is to close this investigation with the arrest and successful prosecutions of the participants, to bring closure to the families of the victims, the community who has been affected and the company which has been affected. This has touched a lot of people in a lot of different ways."

Dean Torrenga, Starbucks regional director of operations, said in a statement: "We are very hopeful about the events of the past few days. We are monitoring the situation in cooperating with authorities. We would like to reemphasize that we will not rest until this case is solved."

The Starbucks company offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. The Georgetown Business Association offered $10,000.

Covington, whose nickname is "Boo," has been convicted of four felonies and two misdemeanors in the District since 1986.

Two of his most recent arrests stem from run-ins with his parents, Lois and Hinton "Chuck" Covington. In 1993, D.C. officers were called to the Covingtons' home in the 4600 block of Seventh Street NE, where Lois Covington said her son had stolen her car from in front of the house three days earlier.

In interviews with courthouse staff, Keith Covington said he underwent drug addiction treatment in a city program in 1994 and was counseled for "emotional problems" at Washington Hospital Center in 1996.

Lois Covington said yesterday that her son knew Cooper but that the two were just "acquaintances."

Yesterday, neighbors described Cooper as a nice man whom they had watched grow up in the North Michigan Park neighborhood. He lives in his childhood home with his wife, 4-year-old son and mother.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said she knew the whole family well. "The Coopers are very nice people, I can tell you that," she said. "His father was a deacon in a church at Ninth and P streets Northwest. He died about five years ago. But they are a Christian family, and they do go to church."

She added: "I'm shocked. We're all shocked. I'm grieving for his mother, and I'm praying it's not true about Carl."

Staff writers Philip P. Pan, Peter Slevin and Linda Wheeler and Metro researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.