Subway Shooting Suspect Agrees to Return to N.Y.

CONCORD, N.H. —  A man who walked into a police station and confessed to shooting four teen-agers in a New York City subway waived extradition today, saying he will return voluntarily to New York to face attempted murder charges.

Bernhard Hugo Goetz, 37, dubbed the “subway vigilante,” nodded his head “yes” during a brief arraignment in Concord District Court when Associate Justice Michael Sullivan asked if he were willing to return voluntarily.

Earlier, Goetz had said he would fight extradition to New York, where an arrest warrant charging him with four counts of attempted murder was issued Tuesday.

Goetz was ordered held without bail. It was not immediately known when he will be returned to New York.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Andrew Isaac said it did not appear the attack in which Goetz is charged was a matter of self defense.

“I believe he indicated . . . that he at no time felt threatened by the individuals,” Isaac said. “There are indications of premeditation, but that word was not used by Mr. Goetz.”

Correction Officer Thomas Barton described Goetz as near tears during processing Tuesday at the Merrimack County Jail. “He said, ‘I’m sorry for what happened, but it had to be done,’ ” Barton said.

Goetz walked into the Concord police station Monday and said he was wanted in New York for a Dec. 22 subway showdown in which a passenger shot four youths who reportedly had asked him for $5.

In New York, hundreds of callers to a police hot line supported the shooting, and a graffiti artist scrawled “Power to the Vigilante! N.Y. Loves Ya!” on a wall along the East River.

Police said they had been seeking Goetz, a self-employed electronics specialist who lives in Manhattan and has no arrest record, since a Dec. 26 telephone tip. They said Goetz had been mugged in 1981.

The Dec. 22 shooting occurred in a subway car in Lower Manhattan. Police said when the four youths asked a passenger for $5, he drew a .38-caliber revolver and shot them, then fled.

Police said three of the youths had been carrying screwdrivers and all had arrest records. One was paralyzed from the waist down. Officials said all four are expected to survive.