Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070145
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
He was serving juvenile petitions from the Wytheville Police Department on a 15-year-old boy Tuesday morning when he was shot to death.
The boy, Christopher Shawn Wheeler, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with capital murder. The commonwealth's attorney said he would seek the death penalty.
Sheriff's deputies said the preliminary indications are that Dicker was shot with a .22-caliber rifle, and then with his own weapon, a 9mm Beretta.
The boy was cleaning squirrels at the house on South Church Street where he lived with his grandmother, and apparently had been squirrel-hunting earlier in the morning. He normally attended classes in an off-campus program for students with special problems, taught at the Wytheville Recreation Center. Dicker arrived at the home sometime after 9:15 a.m., the last time he called in to dispatchers.
Dicker, wearing a standard protective vest, was shot in the head, said Lt. Col. Doug Cooley of the Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office got a call at 10:13 a.m. from a neighbor of the boy, saying help was needed. The dispatcher recognized the address as the one where Dicker had gone, and tried to reach him by radio.
Dicker, 57, was found a few steps inside the house. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Wheeler was taken into custody at the house.
At the request of the town and county agencies, the investigation is being handled by Virginia State Police.
The petitions carried by Dicker, charging Wheeler with petty larceny and auto theft, were the 13th and 14th papers to be served on the boy.
``Wasn't even our case,'' Cooley said. ``Like the sheriff said, he shot the messenger.''
Sheriff Wayne Pike always has stressed caution to his deputies, and often warned of dangers that might be encountered while serving papers, recalled Capt. Keith Dunagan. ``I'd say this was his worst nightmare,'' Dunagan said.
It is the first time a department member has been killed on duty since Pike took office in 1980.
Dicker, who was married and had three grown children, had served in the U.S. Air Force 20 years before joining the Sheriff's Office. Originally from Maine, he lived at Barren Springs near the Wythe-Pulaski county line.
``I don't think Cliff planned on staying too many more years,'' said Dunagan, who worked under Dicker when Dicker was a shift supervisor. ``A couple years, I think, Cliff was planning on going ahead and bowing on out. ... I think he just wanted to take a little time and enjoy himself.''
``He was a good guy ... easy guy to get along with,'' Cooley said. ``Loved to camp, go to the lake - Claytor Lake.''
``He just liked to get out and ride around on his boat and camp,'' Dunagan said. ``He liked to be outdoors. ... He liked to putter and tinker with stuff, too, like lawn mowers and cars.''
``Very nice officer, very mild, very professional,'' said Wythe County Commonwealth's Attorney Tommy Baird. ``He really was an outstanding deputy. I'm not just saying that. And I think he was liked by everyone he encountered.''
Dicker was the second New River Valley law enforcement officer killed on duty in less than three months.
Terry Griffith, a 17-year veteran of the Christiansburg Police Department, was shot with his own weapon Sept. 18 during a struggle with a West Virginia man who had shoplifted a carton of cigarettes from a department store. The man was killed by gunfire from two Montgomery County sheriff's deputies minutes later.
Dicker's death comes as Christiansburg officers still are trying to cope with Griffith's death.
"It's going to be a nightmare and a madhouse for them," he said of the Wythe Sheriff's Office. "Our hearts go out to them and the family. And our prayers - trust me, they've already been said. We know it's going to be a rough week."
Staff writer Kathy Loan contributed to this story.
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: ***CORRECTION***