From the Progress and the Waynesboro News Virginian, some addition developments in the case of yesterday’s shootings on Route 64:
- Charges have now been filed against Slade Woodson and an unnamed 16-year-old in the case, “Dumb” in the “Dumb and Dumber” duo. Felony malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle are just the beginning of what will surely be a heaping serving of legal trouble for the pair. They’re facing twenty charges between the two of them.
- The house the duo shot up was the home of Woodson’s apparent nemesis, a fellow student whose questioning by police last year led to Woodson’s prior conviction. This is not the first time Woodson has made a scene at the household — he’s a regular there
- Not content to merely abandon his own laughably recognizable vehicle — a bright orange 1974 Gremlin — that he’d used for the crime spree, Woodson left the .22 shell casings in the vehicle, which were recovered by police. No doubt his fingerprints are all over them.
- The guy shot by police at the time of the arrest this morning is in stable condition, but his identity and specific condition hasn’t been revealed.
- The injuries sustained by the two occupants of vehicles were slight enough that police suspect they might have been caused by shards of glass from the shot-out windows rather than the bullet themselves.
For those of y’all who aren’t familiar with firearms, a .22 is the smallest caliber bullet you’re likely to come across. Both handguns and rifles commonly fire .22s. They have so little powder in them that there’s very little recoil, making it simple to aim a weapon that takes this cartridge. If you had to pick a caliber to be shot in the shoulder with, this would be the way to go. But though it might be small, it’ll punch right through the side of a car and, once it starts to tumble, tear up anybody in its way. Jackson Landers (disclosure: my brother) coincidentally explained this on his blog just two days ago.
Though it remains to be seen which law enforcement agency is responsible for this — Albemarle or state — somebody deserves a lot of credit for making an arrest within 30 hours of the first shot being fired. This could have been a source of a lot of fear and anger, but instead it was wrapped up immediately.
Yes, somebody does deserve a lot of credit for making an arrest within 30 hours of the first shot being fired. Namely, Dumb and Dumber themselves. For riding by a security camera and leaving their signature on the Waynesboro crime.
That’s right, “Sick of the Local Rambos” the coppers had nothing to do with it. Now, go back to your nap..
Law enforcement did a great job in bringing this incident to an end.
Kudos to the police for the excellent work. I just can’t believe that nobody has yet called this guy the “Gremlin Gunman.”
You’re correct, Bob. Dumb and Dumber appearing on a surveillance tape in their little AMC Gremlin broke this case wide open no more than the prior Dumb and Dumber murderers recently who abandoned the victim’s stolen car within sight of their own residence did. If you read one of the other Dumb & Dumber topics here, you will see I predicted exactly who was involved long before the arrest and long before the Gremlin surveillance tape was shown. My exact words were “…this is just a couple of punks from the area…” Police work is not rocket science. (Back during the recent murder I also predicted the killer(s) would be found within a short walking distance of the abandoned stolen car of the victim. And sure enough, the killers were found within 800 to 1,000 feet of the abandoned stolen car.)
Uh. That’s really not police work, Demopublican. Do you really think you rounded down the suspects to a manageable group of people with that declaration?
Its amazing the amount of information one can absorb while sleeping through court cases…..
Actually Waldo, the simplistic explanation was offered with the accompanying statement that this would never rise to the level of the DC sniper shooters. It was meant to set people’s minds at ease about this escalating to a cold blooded killing every so often like in the DC sniper cases.
The police put a ton of manpower on this and the criminals weren’t bright. Now it’s over. This could have spiraled into fear mongering and sensationalism. Different jurisdiction got it done. My hat is off to them, thank you very much.
The only way it changed my life was friends wanted to go out for a couple of drinks to celebrate a promotion Thursday. I suggested that considering the amount of police that were in the area and how long the had been on shift, that perhaps we could delay or be hyper vigilant about the designated driver. There were law enforcement everywhere. A cautious good time was had by all.
Very interesting, Perlogik! So, if there had not been a lot of police in the area, there would not have been a discussion of delaying your celebration, and you would not have had a discussion about being hyper vigilant in regards to having a designated driver?
Considering the town was on edge was I concerned that even stone cold sober person could be pulled over by cops, who on edge and working long hours- yes I was concerned. What if the car I was driving sudden matched a “car of interest”? Add to that a perfectly legally sober person could have the smell of alchol- even though well below the limit-leave you will extra hassle that night that no one needed.
Many concerned had no thought to what had happened that day having worked quite hard and not seen the extent of the news. Hyper vigilant is just what it means, don’t try a make it something else.
A bright orange 1974 Gremlin? HAHAHAHAHA!
Morons.
The details of the car are especially funny if you’ve seen Slade’s Myspace pages, which contain a bunch of references to going ‘bogging.’ He’s all about the big, lifted pickup trucks and Jeeps. Well, ok, I’m a Jeep man myself. But to brand yourself as this macho, truck-drivin’ off-road guy and then go out to raise hell in an ORANGE 1974 GREMLIN is just ridiculous.
The lamest little car on Earth paired with one of the dinkiest, weakest rifle cartridges in existence. It’s like what would have happened if Mister Rogers had knocked back a few too many and decided to go make some trouble in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. These guys should have just put on some house slippers and zippered sweaters and been done with it.
“But though it might be small, it’ll punch right through the side of a car and, once it starts to tumble, tear up anybody in its way.”
Damn straight. You do NOT want to get hit by a .22
Alcohol and firearms are a winning combination! (.22LR hollow point vs PBR):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/135/336958770_7ae82de444_b.jpg
Notice the bullet tumbling out of the right side of the image. Its actually orthogonal to the direction of travel. Totally intact. It didn’t even mushroom.
Its important to note, that aside from the nasty cavitation damage a tumbling .22 can inflict, it is incredibly dangerous because it is still deadly at over a half mile away.
It won’t stop a charging rhino. But humans aren’t rhinos now are they?
If I had to take a round in the shoulder, I’d go with bird shot. Less velocity and no tumble (what ballistic scientists call “yaw”). I’m sure the lawyer that dick cheney shot was happy he didn’t take a .22 to the face instead.
Peter Hathaway Capstick in one of his great books on African hunting tells of a bull elephant that was killed with a .22 Long Rifle.
The animal was obscured by brush which prevented the hunter from seeing a vital area for a shot. His companion suggested popping it with a .22 so that it would move and open up a fatal shot with the elephant rifle.
By some twist of fate the bullet hit the thin skin just behind and under the front leg that covered the heart/lung area and entered for a fatal kill. The only place where this could have happened as the muscle and bone of an elephant requires heavy,stoutly constructed(solids) bullets to penetrate.
A .22 wouldnt stop a head-on charge by an elephant(an iffy business even with an express rifle), but it can be deadly. And reminds us of the need for always following proper safety practices with any type of firearm.
By the way, Capstick attended UVa, although he never managed to graduate. He died in 1996.