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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995                   TAG: 9505020153
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE                                LENGTH: Medium

FATAL SHOOTING BY BOTETOURT DEPUTY JUSTIFIED

A Botetourt County sheriff's deputy was justified in killing a man who attacked him and his partner with a hatchet late last month, the county commonwealth's attorney ruled Monday.

Sheriff's Cpl. Monte Woods shot Leon Harlow twice in the chest with his semiautomatic pistol after the 65-year-old man knocked Woods and another deputy, Sgt. Dave Mullins, to the ground as they attempted to serve an emergency custody order April 22.

Harlow's family had obtained the order after he became increasingly hostile after being off his medication for manic depression, a mental disorder in which emotions fluctuate between extreme highs and lows.

As the two officers confronted him in a garden near his house on Old Hollow Road, just south of Buchanan, Harlow struck Woods once with the blunt end of the hatchet, knocking him to the ground and injuring his shoulder. Mullins tried to step in, but also was knocked down. Woods shot Harlow when it appeared he was going to hit Mullins with the hatchet.

"Corporal Woods and Sergeant Mullins acted with restraint in this situation," Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Hagan said. "The homicide resulted from the justified use of deadly force."

Hagan pointed out that Woods has been in police work for more than 15 years and had never before used his service revolver.

Family members said Harlow had been threatening to kill members of his family for several weeks. He had imagined that they were out to do him harm.

State police investigators were told by family members that Harlow said he would never be taken alive. The sheriff's deputies were unaware of those statements when they went to his house to take him into custody.

Hagan said he has told the state police, who were called in to investigate the shooting, that they can close their investigation. Hagan said he reviewed both the state police reports and autopsy records before reaching a conclusion.

Mullins returned to work Sunday afternoon, supervising traffic control for the Tour DuPont. Woods still is nursing the shoulder injury.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB