Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992 TAG: 9203120287
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police said they suspect Terry Wayne Anderson, 20, a construction laborer, was engaged in a cocaine deal when he was shot in the 1000 block of Lafayette Boulevard Northwest.
Lt. William Beason Jr. said police found a small amount of crack in Anderson's pickup.
Neighborhood residents found Anderson slumped inside the truck at 5:39 p.m. At Community Hospital, medical workers found a bullet wound in his left armpit.
A medical examiner said he died from the gunshot shortly before his truck plowed into two parked cars in the 1200 block of Lafayette.
The teen-ager accused of killing Anderson was being held Wednesday without bond at the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Home in Botetourt County. He also was charged with use of a firearm in a felony.
He could face the death penalty if tried as an adult.
Anderson's family said Wednesday that they believe someone must have thrown crack cocaine into his truck because he had nothing to do with drugs.
"Ain't no way it could have been like that," said Henry Lee Nunn, Anderson's stepfather. "You couldn't even get him to smoke a cigarette."
Anderson worked with Nunn, a brick mason, for a Roanoke contractor. Anderson had been living with his mother and stepfather since he was separated from his wife in September.
The family said Anderson got paid Friday and told them he was going to pick up parts for an old Jeep he owned.
"Terry was a good person. We hate to see his life brought down. He wasn't involved in drugs - no way," Nunn said.
But Beason said physical evidence and interviews with witnesses strongly suggest that Anderson was engaged in a drug transaction when he was shot as he sat inside the truck outside B&G Grocery Mart at 1035 Lafayette. "We've got people who were present who we're talking to," he said.
Neighbors say that young people and drug dealers often gather outside the store.
Beason said he did not know why Anderson was shot or from how far away his alleged assailant fired with a .22-caliber handgun. The police are awaiting laboratory results.
The alleged gunman lives in the neighborhood, according to Beason. No other information was available because he is a juvenile. Beason said no other suspects were being sought in the shooting.
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