Several days old. There was a much better article in the Tuesday "paper" paper.
A gunman opened fire on sheriff’s deputies responding to a robbery call at a rural salvage yard on Sunday, killing two and injuring two others before being killed in a shootout, Virginia State Police said.
One of the injured deputies suffered life threatening injuries. The other was in serious condition, state police said.
Buchanan County Sheriff Ray Foster called the shooting “one of a kind” for his department but declined to say anymore.
The owner of Roger’s Service Center in the Southwest Virginia community of Vansant told police that his business was being robbed and he had blocked the suspect’s vehicle with his own.
State Police Sgt. Steve Lowe said when deputies and state police arrived about 2 p.m., shots were fired. Two Buchanan County deputies were hit and died at the scene.
The other two deputies were shot when they arrived at the salvage yard, Lowe said.
State police and other officers found the suspect about two hours later and after “some sort of engagement” they shot and killed him, Lowe said.
“I’m not sure what the confrontation was when they encountered him,” Lowe said. “Apparently he was identified as the right person.”
Lowe said he didn’t know if the man fired on police, or if he was armed at the time.
State police did not release the names of the deputies nor that of the suspect.
Friends, family members and an administrative assistant in the sheriff’s office identified the slain deputies as Neil Justus and Billy Stiltner and the injured deputies as Shane Charles and Eric Rasnake.
As of late Sunday, nearly 400 people had signed up on Facebook to attend a candlelight vigil at the Buchanan County Courthouse for the fallen deputies this evening. A Facebook page had also been set up in memory of the victims.
Residents were asked to leave their homes shortly after the salvage yard shooting and several remained gone late Sunday.
According to the website The Officer Down Memorial Page, the last Buchanan County sheriff to die in the line of duty was in 1975 of a heart attack. The website lists four on-duty deaths for the department since 1905. The last by gunfire was in 1964.
They damn well did identify him as the right person. According to the article in the "paper" paper (which also identified the shooter), he ran off after the initial shooting to a nearby resident's house and asked to use the phone. The resident was wary of the suspect (read: scared shitless) and let him use a cell phone. He was talking to his wife, asking "What did they say I did?" - the resident pointed to the helicopters and said something to the effect of "you don't know?". He also said on the phone that he was gonna die. And he did shortly afterwards: police confronted him in the resident's front yard, told him several times (according to the resident) to get on the ground - he didn't. Police held their fire until he pulled out a gun, at which point he was immediately shot dead.
The paper also gave a more detailed account of the initial shooting at the salvage yard - the article mentioned something about an impounded car, and said that he was using a "high-powered rifle" and described him as a "sniper" or some such, hiding behind a tree, and supposedly fired as many as 50 rounds at the cops on scene.
A gunman opened fire on sheriff’s deputies responding to a robbery call at a rural salvage yard on Sunday, killing two and injuring two others before being killed in a shootout, Virginia State Police said.
One of the injured deputies suffered life threatening injuries. The other was in serious condition, state police said.
Buchanan County Sheriff Ray Foster called the shooting “one of a kind” for his department but declined to say anymore.
The owner of Roger’s Service Center in the Southwest Virginia community of Vansant told police that his business was being robbed and he had blocked the suspect’s vehicle with his own.
State Police Sgt. Steve Lowe said when deputies and state police arrived about 2 p.m., shots were fired. Two Buchanan County deputies were hit and died at the scene.
The other two deputies were shot when they arrived at the salvage yard, Lowe said.
State police and other officers found the suspect about two hours later and after “some sort of engagement” they shot and killed him, Lowe said.
“I’m not sure what the confrontation was when they encountered him,” Lowe said. “Apparently he was identified as the right person.”
Lowe said he didn’t know if the man fired on police, or if he was armed at the time.
State police did not release the names of the deputies nor that of the suspect.
Friends, family members and an administrative assistant in the sheriff’s office identified the slain deputies as Neil Justus and Billy Stiltner and the injured deputies as Shane Charles and Eric Rasnake.
As of late Sunday, nearly 400 people had signed up on Facebook to attend a candlelight vigil at the Buchanan County Courthouse for the fallen deputies this evening. A Facebook page had also been set up in memory of the victims.
Residents were asked to leave their homes shortly after the salvage yard shooting and several remained gone late Sunday.
According to the website The Officer Down Memorial Page, the last Buchanan County sheriff to die in the line of duty was in 1975 of a heart attack. The website lists four on-duty deaths for the department since 1905. The last by gunfire was in 1964.
They damn well did identify him as the right person. According to the article in the "paper" paper (which also identified the shooter), he ran off after the initial shooting to a nearby resident's house and asked to use the phone. The resident was wary of the suspect (read: scared shitless) and let him use a cell phone. He was talking to his wife, asking "What did they say I did?" - the resident pointed to the helicopters and said something to the effect of "you don't know?". He also said on the phone that he was gonna die. And he did shortly afterwards: police confronted him in the resident's front yard, told him several times (according to the resident) to get on the ground - he didn't. Police held their fire until he pulled out a gun, at which point he was immediately shot dead.
The paper also gave a more detailed account of the initial shooting at the salvage yard - the article mentioned something about an impounded car, and said that he was using a "high-powered rifle" and described him as a "sniper" or some such, hiding behind a tree, and supposedly fired as many as 50 rounds at the cops on scene.
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