Spotsylvania VA deputy kills armed juvenile suspected in drive-by shootings
Spotsylvania County VA March 10 2018
A juvenile listed as a runaway from New Jersey was killed Thursday in a gun battle with Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s deputies investigating him in a pair of drive-by shootings at the same home on two consecutive nights earlier in the week.
The Sheriff’s Office did not identify the juvenile or release his age at a news conference Friday morning, but Sheriff Roger Harris said he expects to do so in the near future. The teen’s family has been notified.
The shooting occurred Thursday afternoon at a townhouse in Salem Fields, where deputies with the special investigations unit confronted the juvenile suspect. Harris said the youth initially put down his weapon after being ordered to do so but picked it back up and motioned toward the officers as they approached.
Gunfire was exchanged between the teen and one deputy and the boy was struck several times, Harris said. The sheriff said deputies at the scene made lifesaving efforts until medical units arrived, but the boy was pronounced dead later at a local hospital. No law-enforcement officers were injured.
Harris did not identify the deputy who shot the boy, but said he is a 16-year veteran with the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office. He has been placed on routine administrative leave pending an investigation by the department.
The drive-by shootings that were being investigated occurred at a home in the 10800 block of Cedar Post Lane in Holleybrooke subdivision. On Sunday about 11:15 p.m., a shot was fired into the garage door of the home. Witnesses told investigators that a black Volkswagen with dark tinted windows went by as several shots were fired.
Late the next night, a second shooting was reported. Police found a .45-caliber bullet casing on the ground, but no property damage was reported. No one was injured in either shooting.
Detectives learned that a .45-caliber handgun had been reported stolen during a break-in at the same house earlier this year. Investigators received information that the teen who was killed Thursday was involved in the break-in, Harris said.
The investigation showed that the boy was entered into a national database as a runaway from New Jersey on March 3. It was also reported that he had stolen a black Volkswagen there, Harris said.
The boy has family in the Spotsylvania area, authorities said.
The teen apparently attended Courtland High School for at least a couple of months last year. Courtland High student Zin White said the teen came to a couple of football weight-lifting sessions last year, but White said he hadn’t seen him since December.
Investigators tracked the boy to the Salem Fields location where the fatal altercation took place, Harris said. The sheriff declined to say what the youth’s connection was to the Salem Fields home or the home that was shot at, saying releasing any more information at this time would be premature.
Lee Roark, who lives on Tangible Court, said about five deputies arrived at the house Thursday wearing bullet-proof vests and with rifles slung over their shoulders. He said they talked with four teenagers outside the home, and “everything seemed calm.”
But minutes after deputies went inside, Roark said he heard three or four pops—presumably gunshots. He said he saw someone on a stretcher being placed in an ambulance, but did not recognize him.
He said he did not think anything of the popping noises until ambulances and additional deputies swarmed the scene. “Looking down our little street, it seemed like every officer in the county was here,” Roark said.
The Sheriff’s Office had obtained multiple charges against the teen, including two counts of grand larceny of a firearm, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, underage possession of a firearm, possessing a stolen vehicle and grand larceny of a vehicle.
Harris said his office will release more details when appropriate.
Fredericksburg.com
