Western Albemarle Shootings (I-64)

[prthorsenjr]

Western Albemarle County Shootings (I-64)

Howdy,

I didn't happen to catch this on the scanner last night:

Shooting Incidents In Area of I-64 in Western Portion of Albemarle County
March 27, 2008 (Updated at 7:40 a.m.) — The Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Police Department responded to several shooting incidents that occurred in the area of Interstate 64 in the western portion of Albemarle County shortly after midnight on March 27, 2008.

There were multiple incidents involving at least four different vehicles over an eleven mile stretch of Interstate 64. Two victims were treated for non-life threatening injuries and released from local hospitals. The suspect or suspects involved in this incident have not been identified at this time.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in this investigation, crime scene security, following up on leads and continued security to the community. This includes air support and K-9 units. The Virginia State Police is the lead investigating agency for this incident.

According to media reports, both the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-64 between mile marker 118 (U.S. 29) and Waynesboro, which had been closed since about midnight, were reopened at 6:20 a.m., although traffic remains congested through the area.

--

However, I did hear that the Albemearle Couty Schools at the time were on a two hour delay (with them now being closed), which prompted me to check things out after arriving at work this morning.

Pete

 

[TPKeller2]

This article has a map of the area, as well as a list of where they have determined that the shootings took place.

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=8076158&nav=menu496_2_1

Theron

 

[richrowl]

Arrest made in sniper shootings

From the Richmond Times Dispatch

Arrest made in sniper shootings
Friday, Mar 28, 2008 - 07:21 AM Updated: 08:30 AM

State police launched an investigation at the Greenwood Station Road overpass near Crozet yesterday after sniper fire was reported. At least one person has been arrested in connection with the Interstate 64 shootings that injured two motorists yesterday morning, according to a police source.
Police also executed a search warrant on a house in western Albemarle County earlier this morning, according to Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the state police.
State police will hold a news conference this morning at 10 a.m. to discuss the new developments in the I-64 shootings, said Virginia State Police Sgt. Dave Cooper refused to release any further details.
Two shooters fired bullets randomly at passing cars yesterday morning along the I-64 corridor near Crozet.
Two motorists sustained minor injuries from the gunfire, which came from the roadside and an overpass.
Police said they believe more than one person was involved in the firing.
-- Carlos Santos

 

[resqpig]

Interstate shootings suspects arrested
Police say they believe the two teens had spent much of the night shooting randomly.
Associated Press

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 male 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 malicious 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.

Investigators promptly shut down a 20-mile stretch of I-64 between Waynesboro and Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, reopening it about 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 the pre-dawn raid Friday.

Elaine Paley, who lives on a hill overlooking the horse and cattle farm near Crozet, said she was awakened about 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 male who confronted them with a handgun, police said.

Woodson was taken into custody, and the other male 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 swing set 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."