ARREST MADE IN WAYNESBORO SHOOTINGS – INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERED SUSPECT IN I-64 SHOOTINGS - March 28

SLADE ALLEN WOODSON

ARREST MADE IN WAYNESBORO SHOOTINGS –
INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERED SUSPECT IN I-64 SHOOTINGS
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE - NEWS RELEASE

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – An Afton, Va., man is in custody on charges related to two shootings in the City of Waynesboro and is considered a suspect in the six reported shootings that took place on and near Interstate 64 in the Charlottesville region during the overnight hours of March 27, 2008.

At 4:48 a.m., Friday, March 28, 2008, the Albemarle County Police and Virginia State Police executed a search warrant at 6740 Yonder Hill Farm in Crozet. As the police tactical teams made entry into the residence, they were confronted by an individual armed with a handgun. The man was subsequently shot and flown to University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville for treatment. Albemarle Police have requested the VSP Police Shooting Investigation Team to investigate the incident.

There were a total of five people inside the residence, including the man who was shot and Slade A. Woodson, 19, of Afton, Va. Woodson was taken into custody without incident. No one else in the house was injured.

At this time, Woodson has only been charged on warrants issued by the Waynesboro Police Department. Woodson faces one felony count of shooting into an occupied residence and one felony count of destruction of property. The charges stem from two shooting incidents that occurred during the early morning hours of March 27 in the city of Waynesboro. Waynesboro Police are investigating these shootings which took place at a residence in the 200 block of North Commerce Avenue and the shooting of the DuPont Community Credit Union on Lucy Lane.

Woodson is considered a suspect in the shootings that took place on and near Interstate 64 during the early morning hours of Thursday, March 27, 2008. Investigators are still awaiting results from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on ballistic evidence collected at each of the scenes on and near I-64. Additional charges against Woodson are pending at this time.

Woodson is also the owner of an orange 1974 AMC Gremlin, which is similar in appearance to the vehicle captured in the surveillance video at the credit union in Waynesboro. The Gremlin was located Thursday afternoon abandoned along Route 29 in Albemarle County near the Greene County line. The vehicle was recovered by police and processed Thursday night. Ballistic evidence recovered from the car has been taken to the ATF lab in Maryland for analysis and will be compared to the other evidence recovered from the shooting scenes and vehicles.

The investigation remains ongoing.