ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A three-hour standoff Tuesday night in a rural Roanoke County neighborhood ended when an officer shot an armed man who police said pointed his gun at them.
David Bell, 36, was shot once in the chest after officers identified themselves and demanded that he put his gun down.
Bell "advanced toward the officers, raising his gun in their direction," said Sgt. Chuck Mason.
Lt. Gary Roche, an adviser to the department's SWAT team, fired one shot that hit Bell in the chest.
Bell was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. A nursing supervisor there said Wednesday that family members requested that Bell's condition not be released. Police said they do not know if his injuries are life-threatening.
The standoff began after a domestic dispute at Bell's parents' home in Catawba. Details of the dispute aren't clear, police said.
About 7:25 p.m., patrol officers responded to 5268 Keffer Road for a "man with a gun/shots fired" call, Mason said. When officers arrived, they saw Bell walking outside his parents' brick home, holding a pistol.
Bell's parents and two other relatives had locked themselves in an upstairs bedroom.
After a short while, Bell went inside, and officers watched for several hours as he paced through the house, holding the gun. During this time, police rescued Bell's family members, but details of the rescue were unavailable Wednesday.
At least a dozen officers responded to the scene, including the SWAT team, a tactical unit that handles hostage or standoff situations.
Addie Crawley had no idea that anything was happening at her next-door neighbor's house Tuesday night. But then came the knock at her door shortly after 9:30 p.m.
There stood a man holding a large gun. He was dressed all in black, and his face was blackened, too.
"He said, 'Turn off all your lights and lock your doors,'" Crawley recalled.
Crawley abided by the police officer's request, but heard nothing after that.
About 10:30 p.m., Bell walked outside, still holding the pistol, according to police. When officers identified themselves and told him to lay down his weapon, Bell pointed it in their direction, police said. That's when Roche shot him.
"The sound travels pretty well around here," said neighbor Tiauna Lovelace. "I heard [police] hollering, 'We got him, we got him down.' There was a fight, because you could hear them wrestling him down."
Wednesday, Bell's bright blue pickup truck remained parked in his parents' driveway. A relative who answered the door declined to comment.
Crawley said Bell was a kind, considerate person. When the Crawleys lost their small dog in the woods, Bell turned loose his bloodhound to find her.
"He was very talkative, very nice, very concerned for other people," Crawley said. "His attitude was always friendly, trying to make you feel comfortable."
But others in the neighborhood, behind Catawba Hospital, described Bell as a man who could be calm one moment and irate the next.
On Wednesday, Roanoke County police initiated two investigations into the incident - one that will look into Bell's actions and an internal investigation that will review the officers' conduct.
Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkart will decide if charges will be filed against Bell. Preliminary findings by police do not show "any wrongdoing," on the officers' part, Mason said.
Roche has been placed on paid administrative leave - as required by policy - until the internal investigation is complete.
It's not the first time Roche, a 17-year officer, has fired at a suspect. He shot an armed robber at the Revco Discount Drug Center on U.S. 221 in 1983.
The suspect, who was wanted for a string of drugstore robberies, opened fire on Roche, who was responding to a robbery call. Roche shot the robber nine times. An autopsy later revealed that the suspect's fatal head wound was self-inflicted.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB