Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404210236
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE REDUCED

David Tyler Bill, 25, had been charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of shooting at an occupied vehicle.

The incident happened Oct. 16, when Officer Lee Linkous of the Roanoke County Police Department was responding to a domestic-disturbance call in the 6000 block of Circle Creek Drive.

Linkous' car was struck by what defense attorney Jonathan Apgar described as a random shot - one of about 15 that Bill fired during a disturbance with his mother.

Upset with a failing marriage and other problems, Bill went to his mother's house and threatened to kill her, Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkart said.

To escape, Bill's mother climbed out a window and ran to her son-in-law's nearby house. When Bill followed her, she climbed out another window, crawled through a highway culvert and hid in a bush that matched the color of a sweat shirt she was wearing, Burkart said.

By then, Linkous had arrived at the scene. He later remembered hearing what sounded like a walnut falling on his car and felt something brush his pants leg. He looked down to see the bullet on the floorboard.

Bill had been charged with attempted murder of his mother, but that charge also was dropped as part of a plea agreement reached in Roanoke County Circuit Court.

He pleaded guilty to shooting into a dwelling, interfering with the property rights of another, making a false statement on a firearm application, and statutory burglary while armed with a deadly weapon.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison plus 31 years.