Will writes: I was just about to fall asleep when a major shootout of some sort erupted somewhere between Garret Square and Avon St. There were a whole lot of shots fired, probably close to two dozen, perhaps more, and it sounded like different types of shots. It lasted a good twenty seconds or so, and there was a lot of screaming and shouting for quite a few minutes afterwards. 911 reports that they’re flooded with calls right now and police sirens just started filling the air. Something seriously bad just went down over there.
05/05 Update:Today’s Progress gives the details. A 21-year-old bystander was shot several times and hospitalized. Albemarle Police arrested two suspects a short time later, charging them with cocaine possession, false identification, reckless driving and eluding police. They have not yet been charged with the shooting.
When did this occur (time and date). Did this happen Friday night Will?
It was early Saturday morning a little after 3am.
Will submitted this at something like 3am, but I didn’t post it until this afternoon.
The details can be found in Sunday 5/5’s Daily Progress. Today only… (damn all archiveless online content)
By KERI SCHWAB
and REED WILLIAMS
Daily Progress staff writers
A 21-year old Albemarle County man who was shot in both legs early Saturday morning may have just been in the way of a shooter trying to disperse a crowd near Garrett Square Apartments, police said.
Curtis Delmont Woolfolk of Wilton Farm Road was found lying on the ground shortly after 3 a.m. with “gunshot wounds to both legs and possibly one of his arms,” city police Sgt. Phillip Brown said.
Shots may have been fired, witnesses told police, by friends of a man who was having a “disagreement” with another man, Brown said. The friends — police aren’t sure how many — “began to discharge bullets, some said firing into the air,” Brown said.
A crowd gathered when the shots were fired, witnesses told Brown, and someone called police.
After hearing that authorities were on the way, the crowd, the shooters and the men having the disagreement ran off, Brown said.
“To make the crowd move, [the shooter] fired at the crowd. That’s what witnesses tell us,” Brown said. “It appeared that Mr. Woolfolk possibly was in the way.”
Woolfolk was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition. Some of Woolfolk’s friends, who were seated in a hospital waiting room late Saturday night, declined to comment.
Soon after the shooting, while patrolling near Fifth Street Extended, Albemarle County police Officer Stuart Snead heard on his radio that city police were looking for a gray car.
At about 3:15 a.m., Snead saw a gray Pontiac Grand Am driving recklessly on Old Lynchburg Road, and tried to stop the car, county authorities said. When the driver refused to pull over, Snead followed the car to the Country Green Apartment Complex, where the driver stopped and tried to run away, Brown said. One of the car’s passengers also tried to escape, Brown said. Both were caught.
The driver, Herman M. Green Jr., 18, of 890-C Fountain Court in Albemarle, was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and eluding police, a felony, officials said.
The passenger who ran from police was charged with possession of cocaine and misdemeanor false identification, police said.
After police discovered the man had given them a fake ID, the man identified himself as David Jones of New York and said the ID belonged to his cousin, according to county police Sgt. E.B. “Ernie” Allen III.
Officer Snead later returned to the area where he had apprehended the unidentified suspect and recovered a 9 mm handgun covered by leaves, Allen said. The weapon was turned over to Charlottesville police.
County authorities were uncertain of the man’s identity late Saturday, and a city detective working the case could not be reached.
The third person in the Grand Am was questioned and released, authorities said. None of the men has been charged in the Saturday shooting, police said.
Green and Jones are being held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
Saturday morning’s shooting incident was the second at Garrett Square in less than a week. Shortly before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, neighbors reported hearing about 10 gunshots, police said. Bullets struck two parked cars, a 1995 Mazda and a 1990 Dodge Caravan, police have said.
No one was injured in that incident, and police have no suspects.
But, but, but…Caravati has been quoted numerous times saying that gun violence is not a real issue in C-ville. Tell that to the people who live in the Garret Square and 10th and Page neighborhoods.
Heads in the sand anybody??
“To make the crowd move, [the shooter] fired at the crowd. That’s what witnesses tell us,” Brown said. “It appeared that Mr. Woolfolk possibly was in the way.”
I sincerely hope the police don’t actually believe that, I’m surprised as it is to hear them repeating such nonsense. Who on earth tries to disperse a crowd by shooting at it? If you’re shooting at people, you’re at the very least trying to injure them. I don’t at all understand how that could be seen any other way.
Would shooting at a crowd disperse them? Sure would. Is it the only way? No, and you and I know that, and would (hopefully) never be put in a position to have to use that method of crowd-dispersement. But, would you and I be hanging out at 3 in the morning with an unruly crowd that we wanted dispersed while packing heat? Probably not. It could well be that, in a panic, the shooter, not thinking clearly and just wanting the crowd to disperse NOW, started shooting (some shots were up in the air) and then, when people weren’t leaving, shot at the crowd without thinking.
I am not saying that is what happened (or even what likely happened). I am just saying that I can see how that could possibly have been what happened. Sometimes people are armed beyond their comprehension and once things get going, they can’t really think as fast as they can harm.
Will writes: I sincerely hope the police don’t actually believe that, I’m surprised as it is to hear them repeating such nonsense. Who on earth tries to disperse a crowd by shooting at it? If you’re shooting at people, you’re at the very least trying to injure them. I don’t at all understand how that could be seen any other way.
I could only my shake head in disbelief when reading the same bit in the DP article. Let’s hope that the CPD find cooperative witnesses, and then ID and catch the shooters.
And by the way, what sort of folks hear gunshots and then run towards the source and gather around?! And then they don’t get out of the way for the ensuing gunplay but rather upon the news that the cops are on the way!
And if you’re shooting at a “crowd”, how would you end up hitting the same guy 2-3 times, and no one else?
And if you’re shooting at a “crowd”, how would you end up hitting the same guy 2-3 times, and no one else?
Well, it could have been a single bullet hitting, moving through, and exiting one limb — and then striking another (and so on). It can happen; some weapons and ammo make it more likely, and others less so.
From the DP:
“Sometimes people are armed beyond their comprehension and once things get going, they can’t really think as fast as they can harm.”
I LOVE that sentence. “armed beyond their comprehension”–that explains so perfectly how so many stupid and tragic things happen, like kids taking guns to school and shooting other kids, road ragers grabbing a gun out of a glove compartment and killing someone, etc. you read about these incidents and the shooters themselves are saying “i don’t know why I did that” and it’s because of what you said–they couldn’t think as fast as they could harm.
hey, that’s how oswald got kennedy, right? one very nimble bullet :)
Oh, here we go with this “methinks” crap again..
I believe Caravati also used to say that Charlottesville didn’t have a gang problem, at least until the Chief of Police (contradicting his predecessor) specifically identified the gang names and territories.
Heads definitely in the sand.
Actually, that was a computer-guided bullet that got Kennedy (and Connoly). The CIA got the technology from alien visitors to Langley. You can look it up.
Big_Al writes: I believe Caravati also used to say that Charlottesville didn’t have a gang problem, at least until the Chief of Police (contradicting his predecessor) specifically identified the gang names and territories.
Heads definitely in the sand.
Here is the gang-article from the Progres and which also takes note of the “new” awareness (or admission) about the gang problem. I think it would be nice if the CPD and Commonwealth’s Attorney could put more of these violent criminals behind bars. Who is on the case now — Chip Harding?