By CHARLES OWENS
BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH (BLUEFIELD, W.V.)
WELCH, W.Va.
Tue, May 13 2008
—
State troopers shot and fatally wounded a McDowell County man after he brandished a weapon toward the officers, police said.
James Creech Jr., age unavailable, was pronounced dead at a residence on Shabby Run Hollow, near Roderfield, following the 11:30 p.m. standoff with police Sunday, Sgt. D.W. Miller, of the West Virginia State Police Welch Detachment, said.
The troopers spent about 20 minutes talking to the man, and tried to encourage him to surrender, Miller said. The man, who was in the bedroom area of the residence, ultimately brandished the handgun and attempted to engage the officers, Miller said.
Miller said the troopers initially responded to a report of a domestic complaint at the residence involving a handgun being brandished.
“The troopers responded, and after about 20 minutes of talking and trying to talk him down, and trying to get him to put the handgun down, he eventually just pulled the handgun out , and tried to engage the troopers,” Miller said. “The troopers fired. He was struck, and was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Miller said troopers were able to enter the residence, and located the man in a back bedroom area.
Miller said he couldn’t comment on the number of shots fired, or how many shots struck the man, as a result of the ongoing investigation.
First Sgt. Gary Tincher of the West Virginia State Police Princeton Detachment, who is heading up the investigation into the shooting, said the inquiry could take several weeks to complete.
“It will take me about several weeks,” Tincher said. “We sent off the evidence, and are waiting for it to come back.”
Tincher said officials were still awaiting Monday a preliminary report from the state medical examiner’s office in South Charleston.
Charles Owens writes for the Bluefield (W.Va.) Daily Telegraph.
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