Saipan resident shot dead in Cincinnati

A mechanical engineer assigned to a military ship on Saipan was shot dead by suspected carjackers in Avondale, Cincinnati, early Sunday morning (Cincinnati time).

Woodrow Wilson Slater, 43, was transported to University Hospital in Ohio where he died from gunshot wounds, according to news reports from Cincinnati.

Reports said police were called to the 700 block of South Fred Shuttlesworth Circle at 3:30am where they found Slater who had been shot.

The suspects reportedly stole the victim’s rental car, a silver 2009 Dodge Avenger. Three African-American men were last seen aboard the vehicle, traveling north on Reading Road from South Fred Shuttlesworth Circle. Monday, Cincinnati District Four Police reportedly recovered the vehicle.

Slater, who would have turned 44 in November, was from Mobile, Alabama. The family is quoted by Fox News as saying that Slater had lived on Saipan for 10 years.

Slater was employed with Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. in Florida and assigned at M/V Bonnyman on Saipan, Saipan Tribune learned.

Slater had just married his girlfriend, Baby Gonzales Slater, on Jan. 10, 2008. Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela officiated the civil wedding.

In an interview at their home in Finasisu, Mrs. Slater told Saipan Tribune yesterday that she was shocked and devastated when her father-in-law, who is in Alabama, informed her about her husband’s death Sunday at 11:26pm.

“My whole body was shaking. I couldn’t understand my feeling,” said Mrs. Slater in Tagalog.

After talking with her father-in-law, she called the Cincinnati Police Department where she was able to confirm the incident.

Mrs. Slater said police told her that her husband had two gunshot wounds—one on the arm and one on the chest.

She said when he left Saipan, he was carrying $1,700 cash, but only $200 was recovered from his body.

She said her husband left Saipan last Saturday (Saipan time) to visit Jim Maddox, his best friend and former co-worker on Saipan.

Mrs. Slater said her husband called her last Sunday at 6:30pm to inform her that he was already in Cincinnati and that he would just shower then he and Maddox would watch football.

She said the shooting apparently happened after he dropped Maddox back at his house.

“It was the second time he visited his best friend. I don’t know why but this time I tried to stop him from leaving,” she said.

She said Slater was planning to buy a new car and that next year he would bring her to Florida where they would settle down.

Mrs. Slater said the American Red Cross has been helping her process her papers so she could obtain a visa and attend her husband’s burial in Alabama either this week or next week.

“I hope the suspects will be caught so we can obtain justice,” she said.

A neighbor of the couple recalled that Slater was a kind man who loved pottering about and tending to a small garden behind his apartment.