ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604260052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Two Roanoke police officers were justified when they shot and killed a man who confronted them with a high-powered hunting rifle at the door of his home, Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said Thursday.
In announcing that he would not seek criminal charges against the officers, Caldwell said they "acted under a reasonable belief that they were in immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury."
Edwin Plunkett was shot the night of March 24 by Officers G.F. Bingeman and T.D. Kanode at his home on Cherryhill Circle Northwest. After arriving at the home to investigate a report from Plunkett's girlfriend that he had assaulted her, Bingeman and Kanode drew their guns and fired when Plunkett came to the door and brandished a .270-caliber, semiautomatic hunting rifle, police said earlier.
"I don't know what Mr. Plunkett's intentions were," Caldwell said. "But when you brandish a weapon at police officers, you take a tremendous risk."
An autopsy showed that of Plunkett's seven gunshot wounds, all but two were to the back of his body. Four of the wounds were to the back of his legs, two were to his hands, and the only lethal shot struck Plunkett in the back of his head.
Caldwell said he believes the first shot struck Plunkett's left thumb as he held the gun facing police, and the other shots were fired as part of the same reaction as he turned away from the officers.
Plunkett, 35, never fired his gun.
Considering the split-second decision that police had to make, Caldwell said he was not surprised by the number of shots fired - a total of 12 - or the fact that Plunkett was struck from behind.
"I'm not trying to split hairs" in reviewing the officers' actions, he said. Caldwell also noted that police are trained that once they decide to use lethal force, they must shoot until their target is down.
The autopsy also found that Plunkett's blood-alcohol content was 0.20 percent - more than twice the level at which someone is presumed too intoxicated to drive.
As is his custom in reviewing police shootings, Caldwell said the victim's family is free to pursue a lawsuit if they are so inclined.
Helen Robertson of Salem, Plunkett's sister, declined to say whether that will happen, but she questioned Caldwell's conclusion. "We just feel that the information is not adequate to base a conclusion on," Robertson said.
Robertson raised concerns that at least three of the shots that struck Plunkett were fired through a screen door. While police had to open the door before firing additional shots, Caldwell said the shooting happened so quickly that Plunkett was likely still standing and armed after the door was opened.
Plunkett's live-in girlfriend, Billie Patton, also has questioned why police had to use lethal force.
But it was Patton who called for help, telling police that Plunkett was beating her and that she believed he had gone to retrieve a weapon from his gun cabinet. Plunkett did not have the gun displayed when he first met Bingeman and Kanode, but apparently pulled it from behind the door frame after being told he was going to be charged with assaulting Patton, Caldwell said.
Since 1980, police had been called to Plunkett's home 40 times to respond to complaints of domestic abuse and drunken behavior, he said.
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