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A string of four shootings overnight Monday in Lynchburg injured one man and left several bullet holes in cars and a house.
Investigators are trying to determine if there is a link between the shootings, which all happened in just less than 10 hours from 5 p.m. Monday to about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Capt. Brandon Zuidema of the Lynchburg Police Department.
Whether there is a gang connection to any of the shootings is also under investigation.
The shootings are the latest incidents of multiple shots aimed at cars and houses in the city over the past three weeks.
The crimes have police investigators working long hours in search of suspects, and prompted this warning Tuesday from Police Chief Parks Snead to those who committed the crimes:
“Think twice, because you need to have 20 to life to spend (in prison),” he said. “You will be caught. You will be punished.”
The first incident Monday happened at 5 p.m. on the street in front of 108 Federal St. Two people were sitting in a car parked in front of that address when another vehicle, possibly a red older model Jeep Cherokee, pulled up beside the car, Zuidema said.
Someone got out of the Jeep and shot at the other car, hitting it several times, he said. No one was injured. The suspect vehicle left the scene and police are still searching for it.
Then, just before 10 p.m., police responded to what they believe to be a drive-by shooting in the 500 block of Chambers Street.
There, they found Michael Avon McMillan, 25, of Evington, with a gunshot wound to the face. He was transported to the UVa Medical Center.
Zuidema said investigators are trying to determine if McMillan was the intended target of the shooting; however, he said the shooting likely was not random.
Police responded again to 108 Federal St. around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for reports of shots fired into a house. No one was reported injured.
Less than two hours later, just before 2:30 a.m., police said, numerous shots were fired in the 1000 block of Pierce Street. A vehicle parked in front of 1015 Pierce St. was shot multiple times, but no one was injured.
Zuidema said these have not been random acts of violence; the parties knew or knew of each other before the shootings.
“Unfortunately these are people who seem to be resorting to violence to resolve their conflicts,” he said.
Snead said police will know better how to prevent similar violence once investigators determine the circumstances surrounding the shootings.
Investigators hope to make at least one arrest today, Zuidema said.
“These are not predictable events,” Zuidema said. “We encourage our folks to be as visible as they can on patrol and to be concerned for their personal safety and that of the community. If these are four separate incidents, that’s troubling in one way, but it they are four related incidents that is troubling in another way.”
Zuidema said that while the shootings have been closer to the downtown area, they still have been spread across about one-third of the city, and the more densely populated portion at that.
Snead encouraged residents to pay attention to what is happening in their neighborhoods.
“Little problems can turn into big problems pretty quickly,” Snead said. “Pay attention to your personal safety and if you are aware of a suspicious situation, don’t keep it to yourself. Report it to the police. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”
Investigators ask that anyone with information on these shootings call the Lynchburg Police Department’s (434) 455-6054 or Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.
Reader Reactions
I think that as a community (the City of Lynchburg) rather than as individual neighborhoods, we should still be supporting the arrests of the idiots who are conducting the random shootings. I couldn’t care less if they are purple. They need to be stopped. I really appreciate the comments from Chief Snead on this - “Little problems can turn into big problems pretty quickly,” Snead said. “Pay attention to your personal safety and if you are aware of a suspicious situation, don’t keep it to yourself. Report it to the police. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.”
I’ve seen the difference in my neighborhood, by pointing out the illegal activity that was going on. We sat on our porches, we called the police, and we let the drug dealers (and prostitutes, believe it or not) know that we weren’t going to have it anymore. It took some time, but it worked. We didn’t push them into another neighborhood, but we got their activities off the sidewalks, which significantly reduced their income. If more people are vigilant and if they will report what is going on, I think we’ll see a drop in this activity all over the city, which is great for every neighborhood!
The last I heard Perrow lived off of Link Rd, but as you mentioned, Ward IV might even include that area. I forgot how ridiculous the map is. Thanks for clarifying.
I understand the reservation about conspiracy theories. It’s not really a conspiracy, but a matter of business. When property values go up downtown and the existing residents can’t afford to live there, where are they going to go? If the City presents affordable and attractive options in advance (ie new developments on Timberlake on the bus line, etc.), the transition goes much smoother. It will appear much nicer and self-chosen than what it really is- relocation for the purpose of revitalizing downtown. Actually, City Council is smart for doing it this way, but it’s still wrong on numerous levels.
I stand corrected. He lives off Link Road. But still in Ward IV. My apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Third Eye Blind
Kurt - Turner Perrow lives in Fort Hill/Perrymont area. Just so you know.
Although the drawing for Ward IV is all over the map - literally. It actually includes sections between Link and Langhorne Roads, Linkhorne Forest, parts of Lakeside Drive and Old Forest Road, LC area, one side of Fort Avenue, Sandusky area, Timberlake to Laxton, and Wyndhurst. That’s from Rivermont to Wyndhurst and random sections in-between. The last time I looked at the map, it appeared that Oakwood County Club and some houses on Rivermont between Oakwood and the Baptist Hospital were included. If that isn’t Gerrymandering, I don’t know what is.
The 4 ward-specific members of Council have to live in their wards. The 3 at-large candidates can live anywhere, but all 3 live in Boonsboro/Rivermont.
I am very familiar with gentrification, but I’m sticking to my comments on the “relocation” of “undesirables” to Timberlake. Sorry, but I’m just not that big of a conspiracy theorist.
Don’t forget, Kurt, poet has a “third eye” and “third ear” which allows him to see and hear things that no one else can, which is where his racist rants are generated.
I suppose he’s off to the Bull Conner Memorial Picnic for Retired LEOs this weekend.
Poet, I have restated my position in the exact same words without compromise. I’m not sure how you can argue that I’m backtracking and running from the issue just because you quote me and add your own asinine assumptions based on your own bigotry. Good argumentative writing doesn’t work that way. You’re upset because I have avoided your race baiting and because you don’t understand the issue: gangs and gentrification.
Gang- YOU immediately thought in terms of race.
Drugs- YOU immediately thought in terms of race.
Undesirables- YOU immediately thought in terms of race.
Low-income housing- YOU immediately thought in terms of race.
YOU even assigned me to a race different than the people who live in the low-income housing (“If they don’t look like you, talk like you, they just have to be ruinous people”). You’ve never met me. How can you make such an assumption and then insinuate that someone else is racist? In fact, YOU are the only person to bring up race.
The appraiser recently told me my house lost value because of the low-income housing a mile up the road. I’m the exact same race and culture of the people who live in that development. Is it a race issue?
As for City Council, I do have information that you don’t have. That’s what I have been trying to tell you, but you don’t want to hear it. Have you ever read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave?“ Pay special attention to the prisoners in the cave who love to watch the shadows on the wall. We are discussing Ward IV, which is represented by Turner Perrow who incidentally worked on the Downtown Master Plan. I think it is a problem for someone to represent a Ward, but live somewhere else. You assume, once again incorrectly, I want my rep to live on my street. No, I would like them to live in my Ward and send their kids to the schools in that Ward. This would ensure that they understand the issues of that Ward. I think anyone who knows how politics works would agree. From what I understand, Perrow lives in Boonesboro, which is a much different section of town than Timberlake. If property values drop on TImberlake, it doesn’t affect Turner’s home in Boonesboro.
Clare378-
Is City Council going to contact developers and business owners outright and say we’re moving the gangs from downtown to Timberlake and need your help? Of course not. It is a much more subtle political process. Essentially this is part of a gentrification process taking place in many cities. It has been studied academically since the 1960s. Gangs and drug-related crime hamper this urban revitalization process. Cities usually hope during this process that as existing urban residents move and property values go up downtown, the gangs and drugs also move to another part of town.
If you think this sounds extreme, ask people in large cities who have had their apartment buildings torched because they resisted leaving and the developer had to have them out. On the other hand, existing residents have also reacted with violence and opposition. It is a serious issue. We are still a relatively small city and have not seen the extremes, but it is gentrification no less. Look it up. I’ve worked in the system. I’ve seen the numbers and the shifting demographics.
Well, it wasn’t “long-winded” but otherwise I nailed it.
That’s your usual dodge Imp. go back and answer the original response to your first post.
I used your words, like I always do, and you didn’t respond to a single word. You nor jedi. Just the same predictable dodges. I love allowing you guys to make fools of yourselves, but it does get tiring.
Got something new? I invite either of you to get back to me if that ever happens.
to paraphrase Art Linkletter, “poet says the darndest things”.
What do you want to bet he’s off composing a long-winded diatribe with a few of his own “but-but-but I I I”‘s in it? Can’t wait!
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