Officers praised for quick arrest in Everett slaying

EVERETT -- After she was gunned down in her driveway Friday night, 65-year-old Dorothy Philbrook made it as far as her neighbor's porch before she collapsed and died. Her former husband fled on foot for less than a mile before he was captured by police at a Malden liquor store, with a .380 semiautomatic holstered to his waist and packing more than 50 rounds of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials.

George Philbrook, 65, put up a fight, wrestling with several officers who grabbed his gun and arrested him at Vernon's Liquor Store, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., who applauded police for arresting the accused killer within an hour of the slaying.

"They may have averted other tragic consequences," Leone said at a press conference yesterday as he announced Philbrook's arrest in his former wife's murder.

A clerk at the store said Philbrook, a regular customer, was buying a six-pack of beer, candy, and cigarettes when police tackled him.

Dorothy Philbrook was shot two or three times in the upper torso and head in the driveway of the Sea Street home, where she and her husband shared a first-floor apartment even though they had been divorced for what "may be over 20 years," according to Leone.

She crawled across the street to the front steps of a neighbor's home, where she collapsed and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency crews, Leone said.

Police, who were called to the scene about 8:20 p.m., broadcast George Philbrook's description over police radios, leading to his arrest within the hour, Leone said. He is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow in Malden District Court on charges of murder, firearms charges, and resisting arrest.

Leone said it appeared that George Philbrook was angry, but he said it was unclear what led to the slaying.

He said authorities were investigating whether the couple had a history of domestic violence.

Neighbors said George Philbrook walked everywhere, frequently with his pit bull, and would pick up trash barrels that the wind blew into the street and put them back along the fences.

Judy DiRusso said he was known for pulling bicycles from the trash and fixing them up for children along the block.

He even gave one to her son, she said.

"I was shocked when I heard it was her," DiRusso said. "And I was shocked when I heard it was him."

Another neighbor, Gerry Fox, 61, said, "I don't know what happened to him."

Neighbors said they thought a child had been shot at first, but then realized it was Dorothy, the petite woman known to most as "Dottie."

"Her body was right over there at that gray house," said DiRusso's husband, Anthony, pointing diagonally across the street from his home where he has lived for 17 years. "This is the first time that anything like this has happened here."

Many neighbors said they thought the gunshots were fireworks because one neighbor has shot them off frequently since July 4.

When they went out of their homes to see what happened they were told to remain inside by a state trooper who lives on the block, because George had fled the scene, they said.

Judy DiRusso said she had seen Dorothy Philbrook on Friday afternoon when she stopped by to chat. She said Philbrook was returning from her son's pizza shop where she helped him clean.

DiRusso said she helped get Dorothy Philbrook a job at Eagle Bank in Everett a few years ago, but she only worked there for about a month.

She said Dorothy Philbrook was often seen sweeping the driveway outside her home and was a friendly woman who always stopped to talk and ask how DiRusso's children were doing in school.

Dorothy was also known to leave handwritten notes on neighbors' cars to remind them to remove their cars before street cleaning so they would avoid a $25 ticket.

"Everybody loved Dottie," Fox said. "I mean, he was a nice guy, too."