R
Roger Denney
Guest
2 teens arrested in Va. highway gunfire
By LARRY O'DELL and DENA POTTER,
Associated Press Writers
03/28/2008
CROZET, Va. - A manhunt for shooters whose potshots at passing cars
shut down a mountain highway ended Friday when authorities stormed a
central Virginia farm, arresting a teenager and firing at a man
carrying a gun.
Investigators said they now believe the shootings that slightly
injured two drivers were part of a long night of random gunfire in
which the 19-year-old, a former high school athlete with a record of
making trouble, and a 16-year-old also shot at a credit union and a
residence.
"Everyone can, I think, rest compared to the state that we were in
overnight," State Police Superintendent Steven Flaherty said at a news
conference in Charlottesville.
Slade Allen Woodson, of Afton, was charged in the shootings at the
home and the credit union early Thursday, as well as the Interstate 64
shootings, which stirred memories of the Washington-area sniper
shootings six years ago that killed 10 people.
Authorities also charged a 16-year-old from Crozet whose name was not
released.
Besides Woodson's charges in the building shootings, he and the other
teen were charged with two felony counts of malicious wounding, one
count of attempted malicous wounding, two counts of the use of a
firearm in a felony and five counts of maliciously shooting at an
occupied vehicle.
They were being held pending bond hearings Monday.
On a MySpace page attributed to Woodson, he described his occupation
as "mechanic, sorta" and wrote, "Im just a country boy who keeps
gettin his heart broken!!! Ive got my heart broken twice in less then
a year... i dunno wat to do.... keep gettin my heart broke or stop
caring!!! and i dont wanna stop caring."
Police declined to offer a possible motive in the highway shootings,
which began early Thursday in central Virginia.
According to police, authorities took a call minutes after midnight
from a driver in a car that had been shot. In the hours that followed,
gunshots hit another car, a van, a tractor-trailer and an unoccupied
dump truck.
Sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Thursday, shots also were fired
at the credit union and a residence in Waynesboro.
Investigators promptly shut down a 20-mile stretch of I-64 between
Waynesboro and Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia,
reopening it around dawn.
Surveillance video at the credit union captured a light-colored AMC
Gremlin around the time shots were fired there, and police found the
car Thursday afternoon, abandoned along a road.
Authorities determined that Woodson owns a vehicle similar to the car
in the video and accelerated a manhunt that wrapped up in a pre-dawn
raid Friday.
Elaine Paley, who lives on a hill overlooking the horse and cattle
farm near Crozet, said she was awakened at 4:40 a.m. by a helicopter
shining a spotlight on the farm and surrounding woods.
State and county police moved in on the farm just before 5 a.m.,
shooting a man who confronted them with a handgun, police said.
Woodson was taken into custody, and the man was taken to a hospital,
where he was in stable condition. His identity wasn't released.
The Albemarle County police officer involved in the shooting is on
administrative leave with pay, Chief John Miller said.
Police recovered a gun from the house that is the same caliber as most
of the ballistic evidence from the shootings.
"I can't tell you that is the weapon, but it's of the same caliber,"
Flaherty said.
According to news reports and court records, Woodson was arrested Jan.
18, 2007, on allegations he stole two pickup trucks and set them on
fire. Woodson, a former high school pole vaulter, was convicted of two
misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and given a suspended sentence.
At Woodson's home in Afton, a handwritten statement was duct-taped to
a blue-green Isuzu Trooper parked in front of a white split-level
house with a wooden fence, a swingset in the yard and an American
flag.
"All we can say is that we love our boy an(d) we hope the incident on
I-64 is not related to him," the note stated. "We also want to say our
hearts are with the innocent victim that was shot by police during our
sons arrest."
People at the home declined to be interviewed.
Glen Woodson, the suspect's father, repeated those comments in a phone
interview.
============================================================
Denneys' Comments:
As we can see ,the NRA gets these "law-abiding" gun owners off to
a good start in life, shooting at anything that moves and even homes.
These two gun-cowards will be cooling thier heels in prison for years
to come, but this is only one example of the US gun-culture of death,
at work.
-Roger
By LARRY O'DELL and DENA POTTER,
Associated Press Writers
03/28/2008
CROZET, Va. - A manhunt for shooters whose potshots at passing cars
shut down a mountain highway ended Friday when authorities stormed a
central Virginia farm, arresting a teenager and firing at a man
carrying a gun.
Investigators said they now believe the shootings that slightly
injured two drivers were part of a long night of random gunfire in
which the 19-year-old, a former high school athlete with a record of
making trouble, and a 16-year-old also shot at a credit union and a
residence.
"Everyone can, I think, rest compared to the state that we were in
overnight," State Police Superintendent Steven Flaherty said at a news
conference in Charlottesville.
Slade Allen Woodson, of Afton, was charged in the shootings at the
home and the credit union early Thursday, as well as the Interstate 64
shootings, which stirred memories of the Washington-area sniper
shootings six years ago that killed 10 people.
Authorities also charged a 16-year-old from Crozet whose name was not
released.
Besides Woodson's charges in the building shootings, he and the other
teen were charged with two felony counts of malicious wounding, one
count of attempted malicous wounding, two counts of the use of a
firearm in a felony and five counts of maliciously shooting at an
occupied vehicle.
They were being held pending bond hearings Monday.
On a MySpace page attributed to Woodson, he described his occupation
as "mechanic, sorta" and wrote, "Im just a country boy who keeps
gettin his heart broken!!! Ive got my heart broken twice in less then
a year... i dunno wat to do.... keep gettin my heart broke or stop
caring!!! and i dont wanna stop caring."
Police declined to offer a possible motive in the highway shootings,
which began early Thursday in central Virginia.
According to police, authorities took a call minutes after midnight
from a driver in a car that had been shot. In the hours that followed,
gunshots hit another car, a van, a tractor-trailer and an unoccupied
dump truck.
Sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Thursday, shots also were fired
at the credit union and a residence in Waynesboro.
Investigators promptly shut down a 20-mile stretch of I-64 between
Waynesboro and Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia,
reopening it around dawn.
Surveillance video at the credit union captured a light-colored AMC
Gremlin around the time shots were fired there, and police found the
car Thursday afternoon, abandoned along a road.
Authorities determined that Woodson owns a vehicle similar to the car
in the video and accelerated a manhunt that wrapped up in a pre-dawn
raid Friday.
Elaine Paley, who lives on a hill overlooking the horse and cattle
farm near Crozet, said she was awakened at 4:40 a.m. by a helicopter
shining a spotlight on the farm and surrounding woods.
State and county police moved in on the farm just before 5 a.m.,
shooting a man who confronted them with a handgun, police said.
Woodson was taken into custody, and the man was taken to a hospital,
where he was in stable condition. His identity wasn't released.
The Albemarle County police officer involved in the shooting is on
administrative leave with pay, Chief John Miller said.
Police recovered a gun from the house that is the same caliber as most
of the ballistic evidence from the shootings.
"I can't tell you that is the weapon, but it's of the same caliber,"
Flaherty said.
According to news reports and court records, Woodson was arrested Jan.
18, 2007, on allegations he stole two pickup trucks and set them on
fire. Woodson, a former high school pole vaulter, was convicted of two
misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and given a suspended sentence.
At Woodson's home in Afton, a handwritten statement was duct-taped to
a blue-green Isuzu Trooper parked in front of a white split-level
house with a wooden fence, a swingset in the yard and an American
flag.
"All we can say is that we love our boy an(d) we hope the incident on
I-64 is not related to him," the note stated. "We also want to say our
hearts are with the innocent victim that was shot by police during our
sons arrest."
People at the home declined to be interviewed.
Glen Woodson, the suspect's father, repeated those comments in a phone
interview.
============================================================
Denneys' Comments:
As we can see ,the NRA gets these "law-abiding" gun owners off to
a good start in life, shooting at anything that moves and even homes.
These two gun-cowards will be cooling thier heels in prison for years
to come, but this is only one example of the US gun-culture of death,
at work.
-Roger
