UPDATE (7:10pm) A second person has been taken into custody in connection to the shootings on Interstate-64 and Waynesboro. A 16-year-old male from Crozet is currently in Virginia State Police custody. Both the 16-year old, whose name wasn’t released because he’s a minor, and Slade Allen Woodson will face 10 felony counts each stemming from the shootings on and along I-64. Woodson will also face two additional felony counts related to the shootings in Waynesboro.
State police have recovered a weapon that is "similar in caliber" to the one used in the I-64 shootings, state police Superintendent Colonel W. Steven Flaherty said at a Friday afternoon press conference. Bullets and casings from all the shootings are still being tested by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Flaherty said that investigators are looking into other buildings that may have been targets.
"There is a good chance of additional charges next week," said Flaherty.
Flaherty declined to discuss in detail the relationship between the 16-year old and Woodson. "It’s safe to say they’re friends," he said. He also declined to say if police believe one or both persons did the shooting.
Police say there are no additional suspects at this time. The man shot by police during the early morning arrest of Woodson is in stable condition, Flaherty said.
Woodson will have a bond hearing at 9am Monday morning in Albemarle County Circuit Court.
* * * * * * *
UPDATE (March 28, 12:45pm) Early Friday morning, police tactical teams arrested Slade Allen Woodson in connection to the Interstate-64 shootings that took place on March 27. Woodson, a 19 year old from Afton, has been charged with two felony counts stemming from shootings in Waynesboro. He has not yet been charged with the shooting of six vehicles on and near I-64 that injured two drivers.
Slade Allen Woodson, 19, of Afton was arrested Friday morning and is a suspect in the I-64 shootings. |
Teams from the Virginia State Police and the Albemarle County Police Department entered a house at 6740 Yonder Hill Farm in Crozet at 4:48am, where, according to state police, a man with a handgun who was not Woodson confronted them. Multiple shots were fired, said state police Superintendent Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, though it is unclear whether the unnamed man fired any shots. There were five people in the house at the time of Woodson’s arrest. The injured man was airlifted to the UVA Hospital. Police did not have any information on his condition. No one else in the house was injured.
Woodson is being held at the Albemarle County Police Department and is charged with one count of destruction of property and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling. Both charges are felonies stemming from shootings in Waynesboro.
The charges are in connection to the shooting of the Dupont Community Credit Union, located on Lucy Lane, just off I-64. According to Waynesboro Police Sergeant Kelly Walker, the credit union was fired upon between 12am and 2am early Thursday morning. Woodson is also charged with firing into an occupied dwelling in the 200 block of North Commerce Avenue, also in Waynesboro.
Flaherty said that Woodson is a suspect in the I-64 shootings and was someone “familiar to police.” Investigators found an abandoned 1974 Orange AMC Gremlin linked to Woodson on the side of Route 29, just south of the Albemarle-Green county line. Police said that the car matched images captured by security cameras at the Waynesboro credit union.
According to Flaherty, police investigators recovered ballistic evidence from the car, though he declined to give any information about the weapon allegedly used by Woodson. Police also declined to talk about a possible motive for the shootings, denying any connection to gang activity. Police are still waiting on the results of ballistic tests that a Maryland lab of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is running on casings and bullets from the I-64 shootings.
Woodson served jail time in 2007 after pleading guilty in Albemarle County General District Court to destruction of property and to two counts of petty larceny.
* * * * * * *
UPDATE (March 28, 9:52am): According to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, police have arrested at least one person in connection to the Interstate-64 shootings that injured two drivers early Thursday morning. The Times-Dispatch also reports that police executed a search warrant on a western Albemarle County house early this morning.
* * * * * * *
The Daily Progress is reporting that county police, state police and federal officers are investigating an assault on Yonder Hill Farm Road. The road is near the area where police searched for suspects in the I-65 shootings. According to the Progress, officials at the scene couldn’t confirm if the assault and the shootings were connected. At least one person was taken to the hospital with a traumatic injury that the Progress characterized as a likely shooting or stabbing wound.
* * * * * * *
UPDATE (March 27, 4:06pm): The Dupont Community Credit Union, located just off Interstate-64 exit 94, was fired upon between 12am and 2am last night, according to Waynesboro Police Sergeant Kelly Walker, though police are not ready to connect the incident to the other I-64 shootings.
Rounds were shot into the credit union’s wall, its sign and through a window. A fourth round was fired through a white utility van in the parking lot. No one was injured.
Walker would not comment on evidence, so no word on whether any casings were found that could match to the other incidents. Waynesboro police are sharing information with state police.
* * * * * * *
UPDATE (March 27, 2:15pm): The Virginia State Police are now reporting that at least six vehicles were shot early Thursday morning on and along Interstate-64. There are no additional suspects or any vehicle descriptions available at this time.
According to the press release, state and Waynesboro police are investigating a reported shooting in Waynesboro to see if it has any relation to the I-64 shootings. Ballistic tests on the bullets recovered at the shooting scenes and from vehicles are still pending.
* * * * * * *
Virginia State Police are searching for multiple suspects in three shootings along Interstate-64 that occurred early Thursday morning. Around 12:10am, said state police Superintendent Colonel W. Steven Flaherty at a press conference, police received a call reporting the first shooting. Shots continued for about 30 minutes, causing state police to close 64 for several hours from the 118 exit in Charlottesville to the 96 exit in Waynesboro.
State Police Superintendent Colonel W. Steven Flaherty briefs reporters as Albemarle County Police Chief John Miller, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford and Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo look on. |
“I don’t have a good feel for how long this went on,” said Flaherty.
Bullet casings that police recovered are all the same caliber, though Flaherty would not say if the casings came from the same gun. Police believe that there is more than one suspect and that those suspects are still in the area. The casings have been sent for testing at a lab run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. State police spokesperson Corinne Geller said that it could be a matter of hours before results from the ballistics test are available.
Four vehicles were hit by bullets, all of them traveling in the westbound lanes. Two drivers were injured, though Flaherty didn’t know whether they were hit by bullets or glass fragments. The two drivers were treated at the Augusta Medical Center for what Flaherty called “superficial” wounds and later released.
While state police are still working on a timeline for the shootings, the shots from the overpass at Route 690, at mile marker 106 on Interstate-64, were the first reported. Three vehicles traveling west were hit.
A fourth vehicle was shot at the Ivy exit on-ramp at mile marker 114. Police say that the shooter was firing from the side of the road. An unoccupied, parked Virginia Department of Transportation vehicle was also shot in the VDOT station in Yancey Mills.
Police didn’t say how many shots were fired. Flaherty confirmed that multiple shots were fired at the Ivy exit on-ramp and Route 690.
Flaherty said that all the shots were fired within a roughly 30-minute period, though police are uncertain of the order in which they were fired. Two cars, a van, a tractor-trailer and the VDOT vehicle were shot.
Flaherty said that “these appear to be a random firing” and dismissed the characterization of the shootings as the work of a “sniper.”
A team of state police investigators are working to identify suspects with the help of the Albemarle Police Department, the Charlottesville Police Department and the UVA Police Department.
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.
