Chappell said the man who had signed in as "Akim Melvin Atwell" had behaved oddly. He balked at providing Social Security information and was evasive about his origins, saying he was a homeless orphan from Delaware.

When police arrived, the suspect surrendered quietly.

"He went very submissively," said Terri Ramos, a spokeswoman for the shelter.

Cassidy was shot in the head after interrupting an armed robbery Wednesday at the Dunkin' Donuts at 6620 N. Broad St. He died the next day.

Minutes after the shooting, law enforcement officials rushed into West Oak Lane, searching for clues and stopping anybody who resembled the description of the shooter - a stocky black man wearing a hooded sweatshirt who had a distinctive spider tattoo on his left hand. Unbeknownst to the police, their suspect had no such tattoo.

By Friday, Lewis apparently felt no need to conceal himself. He reported to the Criminal Justice Center that day to attend a hearing related to his arrest June 14 on drug-possession charges, a court official said yesterday.

Amid a huge dragnet, the suspect walked past dozens of law enforcement officers at the courthouse and presented himself to a judge, who ordered him to reappear in court in January.

By Saturday, however, police began to realize that the tattoo description was mistaken and focused on Lewis.

Tipped off by an acquaintance of Lewis' family, uniformed police rushed to the home of his mother, Lynn Dyches, in the 200 block of East Roosevelt Boulevard. They arrived about 1 p.m., missing the suspect by 30 minutes, Homicide Capt. Michael Costello said.

The mother, a Philadelphia corrections officer, told police that she did not know her son's whereabouts.

Police continued to investigate, and early Sunday - after two witnesses identified Lewis from a photograph - an arrest warrant was issued.

The warrant stated that Lewis had told his family he would not surrender.

On Monday, police learned that Lewis had allegedly left the suspected murder weapon - and Cassidy 's 9mm departmental pistol - with his cousin, Glover.

Investigators yesterday said they believed that they had recovered the murder weapon from Glover's home, in the 3800 block of North Franklin Street in Hunting Park. Preliminary ballistics tests on the 9mm pistol, which was reported stolen in another state before the murder, are "promising," said Inspector Joseph Mooney, who heads the homicide unit.

Glover, who has a history of arrests dating to 1996, when he was charged with receiving stolen property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, was initially uncooperative, officials said. But they said he eventually had disclosed that he took Lewis to the bus station in Wilmington on Saturday and bought his cousin a ticket on the 4:20 p.m. Greyhound bus to Miami.

By the time authorities learned that Lewis had left town, the bus had already arrived in Miami, at 10:45 p.m. Sunday.

Glover was held yesterday without bail.

Costello said others may be charged in connection with Lewis' run for freedom.

Police were initially uncertain whether Lewis was in Miami or had disembarked at any of the numerous stops along the way.

"We had FBI agents and law enforcement all over the place," Costello said. "And we had them everywhere in between here and Miami. "