Shooting on East Seminary
Update
Here is an account of what went down last night.
The homeowner got up at 3 am to go purchase a decongestant because he couldn’t sleep. Before leaving the house for the garage, he noticed that there was a man in his back yard. He told his wife to call the police and left the house with his shotgun. The intruder was moving the security lights so that he would not been seen when the homeowner returned. The intruder turned towards him instead of fleeing so he fired and hit the intruder. The intruder was then climbing the 9′ security fence and the neighbor fired a second shot well away from the intruder to ensure that he would leave. By 5 am the blood hounds had tracked the blood to a Chamberlayne Apartment one block north and found the suspect bleeding inside. He was hit in the head and back, but is expected to fully recover. The suspect is at MCV for treatment and then arrest.
Original
Last night I called 911 to report what sounded like gun shots North of my house (on the 4500 block of E. Seminary) at 3.30am. This morning I wake up to find this in the RPD daily incidents of interest:
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT (SHOOTING)
- 8/5/09
- 3:32 a.m.
- 4800 block of East Seminary Road
- A male was reported he was shot twice by an unknown male. His injuries are not life threatening.
A couple of things:
- I realize I normally don’t post “routine” incidents like this, BUT! It happened a couple of blocks from my house. So, that is pretty creepy for me personally.
E. Seminary drops a couple blocks here and there, so I don’t think there is a 4800 E. Seminary. So this probably happened in the alley between 4600 E. Seminary and 4800 Chamberlayne.Ok there is a 4800 block of E. Seminary. Jk Jk.
Nuts!
Yikes!I’ve always considered that street and the streets around it to be pretty safe… this is out of the ordinary right?
Yeah – it’s one think to read about shootings, it’s another thing to hear the shots – bringing the incident into your own time and space. This happened to me several months ago outside Meadowbridge and Brooklyn Park Ave.
It’s interesting to experience these things as an adult, but I wonder how my kids will one day react to these experiences.
You’re not allowed to shoot people to protect your property. If this guy wasn’t being threatened, he could be charged (like in that shooting in Union Hill back in the spring).
“The intruder turned towards him instead of fleeing so he fired and hit the intruder.”
I mean is that threatening?
“I thought he had a gun. He had something in his hand that appeared to be a gun. I told him to drop it twice and he did not.”
Homeowner’s word versus jackass would be robber with new piercings. Homeowner wins.
Does “being threatened” mean hearing the intruder say “I’m going to hurt you” or actually seeing a gun? Maybe the homeowner felt threatened, but I don’t know if that counts for anything.
Yea 3:00am your in my backyard which is surrounded by a 9ft fence. I’m feeling threatened. Now I would Just be worried about retaliation.
Let’s see…3AM, somebody jumped over your 9 foot fence, played with your lights, geeee, think I would have shot for the masses. Sorry didn’t get him good. Must have used 00 buckshot and short barrel. That scatters. Use a long barrel and bring it down to #1, that will take care of any problems in the future. Take your streets back, if you don’t they will take them over. Don’t we have a right to protect our home and family as the 2nd Amendment gave us. TY
I would be worried about making sure the holes in the guy were in the front.
I hope the homeowner wins on this one, it would certainly send out a message. I know I would probably be in the same place as the homeowner, faced with the same situation.
I wish the Harvey family had had a shot gun
That’s the thing about Richmond- it’s block by block; you have your really nice neighborhood but a block or two away is the hood and they like you’re nice things behind your 9′ fence.
whoever wins in this case, it seems like the right thing happened- would-be-robber gets a little effed up, probably was scared out of his mind that he was going to die, pooped his pants, but wasn’t killed. lesson learned!
I am sure the intentions of the person who got shot were totally innocent and he was probably just taking a stroll at 3:00 a.m. and got lost and accidentally ended up in this guys back yard and was moving the lights around because he was going to put on a play for the homeowners and needed more dramatic lighting for his opening monologue. Or, he was planning to break in to the home, take what somebody else had earned through their hard work and threaten this mans family to do it. Hmmmm……
after reading about the harvey, tucker-baskerville incident, I don’t think there’s anything I would do to stop someone who was threatening my family. Anything.
That being said, I’m not sure I’d want to be fighting alone either. Anybody have any good suggestions on security systems?
sorry, “I don’t think there’s anything I would NOT do” . ..
It is better for the homeowner for the intruder to be inside the house. Better for the intruder to be on the second floor.
Shot guns are good cause you have to point in the general direction and you’ll more then likely will hit something. I do kept putting iron by the
front door. Putting irons are best cause the longer then a baseball bat and are lighter. Can cause alot more damage then a baseball bat.
Blake, We use Vector. And it works so well that I have never had to use my backup system–which is similar to what the gentleman above used.
Although I agree with many commenters’ supportive sentiments of the home owner (as a homeowner myself), this guy might very well be charged with a crime.
What he did was probably illegal under VA penal law, given that self-defense laws require an affirmative defense, that is, the defendant “must reasonably fear death or serious bodily harm to himself at the hands of his victim.”
Obviously, there are many more legal questions germane to this incident than I’ve laid out here, but suffice it to say that this guy could be in some legal jeopardy and this incident could very well a grand jury.
Thanks Frank.
Blake- I have used the PIT System (as in bull) for the last 13 years and have never had a problem. ,
except for the shedding..
Has anyone heard what happened to the owner since the dust has cleared? Was he brought up on charges?
Man Accused Of Shooting Burglar Is Being Indicted (wric.com 10/10/09)
I hope nothing happens to owner. I don’t know what I would do if I was in the same situation.
I found a “mean looking” chow years ago when I lived in Florida and kept him in the yard. The joke was he was a big scaredy cat, but the riff raff didn’t know that. Being a scaredy cat meant barked at strangers, raised the alarm and “looked” like he would do some damage.
I’m sorry the CA feels compelled to charge Mr. Ross. I hope the community rallies around him.
I figured he would be charged since the person had not entered his house, but a little common sense would be nice from the CA. 3am in someone elses back yard, that is a no brainer..the person was up to no good. I would probably be in the same situation.
Obviousy, there’s more to this story than most ” people ” realize. And, of course, there are — and were — extenuating circumstances. Such as, the ( supposeded ) perp. being chased by…at least…one other man. The pursurer in question brandished either a baseball bat or a crowbar. The supposeded burglar fled and attempted to elude the aggressive pursurer, and was subsequently shot for his efforts. I myself am hoping the home-owner in question is indeed prosecuted for use of extream force in protecting his home. Perhaps, if there is a next time for him, he’ll maybe think to ask first before he fires off another shot.
Does anyone know whether the intruder was shot in the alley or within the private property line?
the victim was shot on the home owners back yard by the fence and after he was shot at twice he made it over the 9ft fence some how
I myself know a few people in law enforcement and heard the gun shot victim was in the back yard of the home owners yard when he was shot, he then ran home to be rushed to the hospital. No blood hounds found him they just found the location of where he was last at. I think ross was wrong for what he did and he should’ve took better actions in to the situation instead of shooting first. The victim well.. shouldn’t of been in ross’s yard but we still dont know his side of the story so I guess we’ll see what the news tells us.
Its almost….amusing. Looking at all of these responses. Almost, besides the fact that a man was in the state of virginia “unlawfully wounded”. It is though sad that still people are still judged by the neighborhood that they live in and what type of car they drive. Reading these responses it shows just how gullable people are. They believe any and everything that a person of “higher class” has to say. I’m wondering what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty. Ross could have handled this situation entirely different. Instead for those 10 seconds he choose to play GOD. Instead of calling the police since he did have the upperhand, he choose to step into the danger zone. In front of the person he feared and HE choose, to pull the trigger…. Funny thing is, I didnt know they allowed hunting in Richmond City.
OH! But they do allow hunting in richmond, Uncle Tom. The rich folk are allowed to, anyway. And, if the prey is ” armed “, the more pleasruable the experience. Afterall, who’re the city ” officials ” going to believe first? It’s a known — though unproven — fact that some ” officials ” are in the pockets of some of these up-scale residents. The same for the ” police force “.
Also, I agree with Retrofunkmom. The apartment tenents along that part of Chamberlayne are getting the brunt of the criminal activity, and the folks in historic ginter park proper want to shut down a large number of the apartments because they are a — what was the word that one person used? — Oh, yeah, a nuisence. Let the rich folks do this. Let’s see how they cope with the same criminal elements.
Good gravy!