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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993                   TAG: 9307290123
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Lon Wagner
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EX-HUSBAND CHARGED IN SLAYING VICTIM'S FRIEND CRITICALLY INJURED

A longtime Roanoke animal control officer was shot dead in her home late Tuesday and a male friend was critically wounded, Police Chief M. David Hooper said.

Sandra Wilson Smith, 43, was dead in the basement of her Andrews Road home when police found her shortly before midnight, Hooper said. Smith apparently had been shot in the back.

James Timothy Smith, 46, of Keene Street Northwest, Sandra Smith's ex-husband, has been charged with murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and malicious wounding.

Police arrested Smith at a minister's house a few blocks from the shooting. The minister told police he had known the Smiths "for many years, and James just could not let go."

Edwin Roger Hairston Jr., 42, a friend of Sandra Smith's, was shot twice. He was in critical condition at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Hooper said.

Sandra Smith, an animal control officer since 1980, was well-known in the community. Before taking that job, she spent four years working in the city's police dispatch center.

"We deeply regret the loss of Miss Smith as a co-worker and as a friend of many officers," Hooper said.

Keywords:
ROMUR

by CNB