Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110274
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Investigators with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department had determined that Dana Marie Edwards Chinault, 26, was accidentally shot in May at the home she shared with her boyfriend in Draper.
But after she died Saturday, Sgt. Jim Davis said the shooting still was being investigated and a report will be sent this week to Commonwealth's Attorney Everett Shockley.
"In view of what has happened," Davis said, he would continue investigating. But further action is up to Shockley's office, he said.
Shockley was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Chinault was shot on the left side of her body late on the evening of May 7. Her boyfriend, Larry Ferris, took her to Pulaski Community Hospital. Hospital officials notified the Sheriff's Department.
Chinault later was transferred to the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. She died about noon Saturday as the result of complications.
"The initial investigation more or less revealed that it was most probably an accidental shooting," Davis said. "They both made statements afterward that it was an accident."
The 12-gauge shotgun belonged to Ferris. He told police the day after the shooting that the gun went off accidentally.
Davis said Chinault and Ferris apparently were the only ones in the small house they shared on the banks of the New River in the rural Delton section of Draper.
Chinault and Ferris had lived in the Pulaski County area for many years, Davis said. Both apparently were unemployed at the time of the shooting, he said.
"She has family throughout this area. I think she's lived in this area all her life," Davis said.
by CNB