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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 22, 1995                   TAG: 9506220069
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEESBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SKATEBOARD FIGHT ENDED BY SHOOTING MOVES TOWARD TRIAL

Police say Robert Lorenz, 54, shot and killed 31-year-old Duren Wayne Eldridge on April 9.

Before the shooting, the men argued angrily in Lorenz's front yard about an incident the previous week in which skateboarders visiting Eldridge's 14-year-old stepdaughter rode over Lorenz's garden, witnesses said.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Loudoun County General District Court Judge Julia T. Cannon ordered the case sent to the grand jury.

Lorenz is charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Eldridge started the argument by repeatedly kicking the door and shouting at Lorenz's wife, according to court testimony Tuesday.

Eldridge was upset that Lorenz had called police to the cul-de-sac over the skateboarding incident, testified David Kersey, 16, who saw the shooting.

Earlier that day, Eldridge had been drinking while working on his boat, one of his friends testified. When he died, his blood alcohol content was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit for driving, according to an autopsy report presented Tuesday.

Kersey said Eldridge called Lorenz's wife ``a band told her that her husband was ``a coward.''

A few minutes later, Kersey said, Eldridge marched up to Lorenz's front door and yelled, ``Why don't you come outside and fight if you're going to yell at my daughter's friends for skateboarding?''

Lorenz then came to the door, but after a brief shouting match went back in, witnesses said. A few moments later, he emerged and continued the argument, eventually drawing a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol and shooting Eldridge once in the chest, the witnesses said.

Eldridge ``was reckless and aggressive, and his conduct made this occur,'' said Lorenz's attorney, Mark Shaffer. ``We believe Mr. Lorenz acted in fear of his life.''

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Owen D. Basham disagreed. To use deadly force, Basham said, ``one must be confronted by a potentially deadly situation.''

``This wasn't it,'' Basham said. ``It's not appropriate to shoot someone if he is just kicking your front door and yelling at you.''