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Published: July 02, 2008 11:11 pm
Teenager pleads in trail shooting
Multiple agencies, people in three states helped solve crime, police say
By Michelle James
Register-Herald Reporter
The 17-year-old boy arrested last month for a June 13 shooting on the Lewis McManus Rails-to-Trails, pleaded guilty in Raleigh County Circuit Court June 25 — one day before 36-year-old John Leon Pack, of Mabscott, succumbed to his injuries.
Assistant prosecutor Tom Truman said the juvenile, also of Mabscott, made an admission that, if he had been an adult, would have resulted in a malicious wounding conviction.
Because he is a juvenile, no information regarding his plea or his punishment can be released. Nor would officials comment on the motive for the attack.
Although Pack died after the plea, Truman said no additional charges will be filed against the juvenile.
Beckley Police Chief of Detectives Capt. Jeff Shumate says the investigation that led police to Pack’s assailant was one that involved multiple agencies and people in three states.
The trail to the arrest, Shumate explained, began when the juvenile told a friend in St. Augustine, Fla., about the shooting.
The shooter’s friend then told his girlfriend, who, in turn, contacted a friend, who lives in Greenville, Ill., and told her the information, along with the juvenile’s first name.
Armed with what information she knew, the Illinois woman went to her local police department and, using MySpace and the shooter’s first name, was able to locate the shooter’s profile page, which identified him as a Mabscott resident.
The Greenville Police Department contacted Mabscott Police, who then notified the Beckley Police.
Shumate said he looked at the MySpace page and recognized the person in the photo.
“He turned out to be a person we had interviewed previously in reference to the shooting so we knew who he was,” Shumate said. “We followed up in reference to the new lead and the subject basically admitted to the shooting.”
Shumate says the case is an example of the importance of law enforcement agencies working together.
“In all cases it’s extremely important,” he said, “But in this case, it shows how information that might not have meant anything to him (Illinois officer), actually cleared a shooting case.”
— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com
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