Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: THAXTON LENGTH: Medium
Jack Pendleton, 54, was listed in serious condition Tuesday in Roanoke Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit.
Mike Evans, who said he shot Pendleton in self-defense, has not been charged in the shooting.
Tuesday, Evans said the dispute started over the weekend as his children were sledding on Ridgecrest Court, the rural road on which he and Pendleton live in the Willow Ridge subdivision off Virginia 619 in Thaxton.
``He was fussing about the kids packing down the snow on the road,'' Evans said. After Pendleton complained, Evans said he told his children not to ride their sleds in the road, and they started sledding on their own property.
Early Monday, some neighborhood children and their parents were sledding in the road again. Evans was scraping the road near his house when Pendleton returned in his pickup truck.
Evans said Pendleton almost struck his tractor with the pickup, then got out and cursed at him.
Pendleton got back in the truck and returned to his house, Evans said. A short while later, he said, Pendleton came back on foot with a shotgun.
Evans said he watched Pendleton run into the woods behind his property, still carrying the weapon. Evans' girlfriend called the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.
A deputy came out but left when he couldn't find Pendleton, Evans said.
After the deputy left, Evans strapped his pistol onto his belt and got back on his tractor to push snow. Two of his children were playing nearby.
Then Pendleton came out of the woods and pointed the shotgun at him, Evans said.
Evans said he heard Pendleton's girlfriend, Polly Richards, telling him to stop, but Pendleton kept coming.
``When he got within 50 or 60 feet, I said, `Jack, please don't do this.' I kept pleading with him. I said, `This is over kids sleigh riding, don't do this.'''
Evans said he ducked behind his tractor and fired a shot at Pendleton. Then, he said, Pendleton fired back three times, hitting the tractor twice. ``If I hadn't moved, he would've hit my head. The third shot went right over my kids' heads.''
Evans said he returned fire until Pendleton fell to the ground.
``The man gave me absolutely no choice. My kids were behind me. I didn't know if he was after me, my kids or all of us.''
Evans said he thought the shooting could have been avoided if the sheriff's deputy had been more attentive to the situation.
``It seems to me he should've stuck around since [Pendleton] was still at large with the gun. We told him that [Pendleton] was in the woods with a gun behind our house. I think he took it too lightly.''
Bedford County Sheriff Carl Wells issued a news release naming Pendleton as the shooting victim but couldn't be reached for further comment. Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike said he would not comment until the sheriff's office had finished its investigation. Richards, Pendleton's girlfriend, declined to be interviewed for this story.
by CNB