THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 19, 1994 TAG: 9409190204
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Police have shot and killed an armed man after he allegedly killed a Christiansburg deputy and wounded a second officer as they answered a call about a man shoplifting a carton of cigarettes.
Christiansburg police Lt. Doug Marrs said the man was killed Sunday by Montgomery County sheriff's deputies after a car chase in which the man wrecked two vehicles. The deputies opened fire after the man fired on them, police said.
Marrs identified the dead officer as 37-year-old Terry Lynn Griffith, a 17-year veteran of the department. Marrs did not release the identity of the alleged assailant.
Marrs said Griffith was shot in the head as he struggled with the man outside the Hills Department Store shortly after 5:30 p.m.
According to police and witnesses, the man wrestled with Griffith outside the store, took Griffith's weapon and shot him. The bullet also wounded Montgomery County deputy Sgt. Bill Wiatt, and the man escaped in the deputy's car. Marrs said Wiatt's wound was superficial.
Police say the man wrecked the deputy's car and took a second car at gunpoint before also wrecking it as police pursued.
Deputies surrounded the car and ordered the man to surrender.
Police said the man fired one shot at deputies, ran to another deputy's vehicle and jumped in the driver's side. When he didn't get out, officers opened fire on the car, killing him.
Betty Spangler, a department store detective, said she watched a man take a carton of cigarettes and slip them into his pants, then try to walk out the front door.
She said she alerted a colleague and when they approached the man, he ran out of the store after a brief struggle.
``We've had them (shoplifters) run, but God, nothing like this,'' Ms. Spangler said. ``He was crazy. It's a nightmare I wouldn't want to go through again.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police examine the revolver a shoplifting suspect carried after a
Christiansburg deputy was killed in a struggle outside a store.
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING SHOPLIFTING MURDER INJURIES FATALITIES by CNB