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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 28, 1995                   TAG: 9502280101
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MAN WON'T BE CHARGED IN SHOOTING OF NEIGHBOR

Bedford County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike will not bring charges against a Bedford County man who shot his neighbor five times in a frontyard gunbattle.

Luck didn't hold out for the neighbor, who survived the gunshot wounds. A convicted felon, Jack Pendleton has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm - a felony.

Updike said his investigation showed that Mike Evans acted in self-defense when he shot Pendleton on Jan. 30 in the Willow Ridge subdivision off Virginia 619 in Thaxton.

A hearing date has not been set for Pendleton, who served time in Texas on an assault charge stemming from a shooting.

Evans said the dispute started when Pendleton, who had complained about Evans' children sledding in the road, ran into the woods behind Evans' house with a shotgun. Evans called the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, but the deputy who answered the call failed to locate Pendleton.

After the deputy left, Evans said, Pendleton approached him with the shotgun, and the two exchanged fire. Evans, who was armed with a pistol, wasn't hurt.

by CNB