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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991                   TAG: 9104140285
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: HAMPTON                                LENGTH: Short

MAN WHO TRIES TO STOP BEATING SHOT IN FACE

Nicholas Menec, 26, was shot in the cheek at point-blank range with a small-caliber handgun Thursday night, police said. The gunman fired once into the open car window after he and the other man turned on Menec, apparently in retaliation for interrupting their robbery of the teen-ager, Detective Lt. Ed Davis said.

"He apparently was shot because he had tried to be a Good Samaritan," Davis said.

Menec was listed in stable condition Friday at Sentara Hampton General Hospital.

Fifteen minutes after the 11 p.m. shooting, police arrested Timothy Wesley DeGree, 18. They are seeking a second man.

DeGree was charged with malicious wounding, two counts of using a gun in a crime, robbery, carrying a concealed weapon and being drunk in public.

Davis said the 16-year-old was walking alone when two men knocked him to the ground and continued to hit him as they robbed him.

Menec, who saw the attack from his car, "stopped and yelled to the two men to leave the boy alone," Davis said.

The two men then charged toward Menec's car. One punched Menec in the face, and as Menec tried to drive away, the second "stuck a handgun through the car window and fired one shot," Davis said.

The bullet did not shatter any bones or reach any sensitive part of the brain, according to Dr. Ajmal Sobhan, a surgeon who examined Menec.

"He is definitely very lucky," Sobhan said.

DeGree was being held in jail in lieu of $30,000 bond Friday.

- Associated Press