years ago could be executed if he is convicted for a separate double-murder.

Mark Lorenzo Squires, who left Charles (Lyndon) Fubler with permanent brain damage, is now behind bars after being on the run for two-and-a-half years.

Squires, an alleged member of the notorious Los Angeles gang The Crips, was arrested in North Carolina in late July on suspicion of killing two people.

He is already going through court and languishing in a jail cell as the murder investigation by Greenville Police continues.

And Police in neighbouring Georgia have already told North Carolina detectives they want to quiz Squires about the Fubler shooting in November 1995.

Former Augusta College student Mr. Fubler, from Devonshire, was shot in the head during a raid at Squires' ex-girlfriend's house in Augusta.

The ex-girlfriend, Sheila Kitchens, was one of Mr. Fubler's friends. She and her 12-year-old brother George were also shot during the raid.

Twenty-year-old Daniel Downing, said to have been with Squires, is already serving 55 years for aggravated assault, burglary and possession of a weapon.

Squires, 23, a fugitive since the Fubler shooting, would receive a similar sentence in Georgia as he is facing the same charges as Downing.

But he could be on death row before that, facing a lethal injection if found guilty of the double killing in Greenville.

North Carolina is one of the frontline death penalty states in the US, with 207 inmates on death row.

A spokeswoman for Greenville Police said last night: "Squires has been charged with two first degree murders.

"He was arrested on a warrant on July 24.'' A spokeswoman for Richmond County Police in Augusta said: "We've got a holding order on him. That means we can interview him regarding the Fubler shooting as soon as he is dealt with in North Carolina's courts.'' The divorced parents of Mr. Fubler, now 27, both spoke of their relief that Squires was behind bars last night.

The victim's father Charles said: "You don't know how we feel now that he is locked up at last.

"Thankfully Lyndon is recovering and he's even got a job now. But he still suffers from tunnel vision, some brain damage and he needs check-ups every year at a hospital in Augusta. He's also on special medication.'' Shooting suspect held Mother Eleanor Joell said her son was adopting "a positive attitude to life'' now that he had tied down a job as a customer services officer in Bermuda.

She added: "He's trying. He's come a long way. We are so relieved that this could all be coming to an end for us.

"When they called me to tell me they had arrested Squires, I couldn't believe it at first. I thought it was a crank call.

"Lyndon still has a lot he has to deal with and his life has changed forever.

But he is being very positive about it all now.'' Police believe Downing drove Squires to Kitchens' home on November 13, 1995.

Detectives said Squires then used Downing's gun to shoot the three victims.

FBI agents helped Richmond County Police in their search for Squires when he was a fugitive until he was finally arrested on a warrant in North Carolina.

His two alleged murder victims were both shot in a car and their decomposed bodies were found in the vehicle, hidden in a pile of trash behind a disused building.

Lyndon Fubler Graphic file name: LFUB