Ballistic Analysis Links Shootings on I-64 in Charlottesville Region

March 29, 2008 | Virginia News

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Early Saturday morning, March 29, 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) notified the Virginia State Police of its findings in regards to the analysis of ballistic evidence recovered from six shootings on and near Interstate 64 in the Charlottesville region, from the suspect vehicle and a recovered firearm.

The ATF lab positively matched the shell casings recovered from each of the scenes along I-64 to those found in a 1974 AMC Gremlin, a vehicle similar to the one captured in surveillance video at a Waynesboro bank that was shot several times. The Gremlin seized by authorities belongs to Slade Allen Woodson, 19, of Afton, Va., one of two individuals charged Friday in the I-64 shootings that took place in the overnight hours of Thursday, March 27, 2008.

The ATF lab also matched the casings to a Ruger .22-caliber magnum rifle that was recovered by investigators Friday on the property of Yonder Hill Farm in Crozet, Va.

Additional testing and analysis is still being conducted by the ATF lab in relation to these incidents.

Investigators charged Woodson and a 16-year-old Crozet, Va., male each with 10 felony counts of malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, shooting at an occupied vehicle and destruction of property. Woodson also faces two additional felony counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling and destruction of property for his role in two shootings that took place in the city of Waynesboro that same night.

“Based on the evidence collected at this stage of the investigation, we do not anticipate any additional arrests related to these crimes,” said Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent.

Woodson is being held at the Middle River Regional Jail in Verona. The juvenile is being held at the Blue Ridge Detention Center in Albemarle County.

Investigators from Virginia State Police, Albemarle County Police, Waynesboro Police, ATF, FBI, Staunton Police, University of Virginia Police and Augusta County Sheriff’s Office are still actively pursuing the investigation this weekend. They are working in conjunction with Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford.