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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995                   TAG: 9503160019
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

MONTGOMERY MAN ARRESTED ON GUN CHARGES

A Montgomery County man was arrested early Tuesday after reportedly discharging a shotgun outside his Belmont Mobile Home Park residence, then refusing to surrender to authorities. It finally took a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office tactical team and four rounds of tear gas to persuade 47-year-old David L. Cumbee to give himself up.

He remained in Montgomery County jail Tuesday in lieu of $6,000 bond, facing charges of reckless handling of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Lt. Tommy Whitt of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that a friend of Cumbee's called authorities just before midnight Monday and reported that Cumbee twice fired a shotgun outside his home. "That was the initial reason for the complaint," he said, adding that no one was hit by the blasts.

Whitt said when deputies first arrived, Cumbee refused to come out and indicated he might try to kill himself. Officers "backed off," at that point, Whitt said, and the tactical team and a Virginia State Police armored vehicle were called in.

Authorities tried unsuccessfully to communicate with Cumbee over a public address system for almost an hour, Whitt said. After repeatedly warning Cumbee, they fired chemical gas into the mobile home.

Whitt said no one was hurt in the incident. In all, more than a dozen state and county law officers converged on the scene, he said.

by CNB