ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO ERIC BRADY/STAFF.
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
Moments after shots were fired at a Northwest Roanoke home Sunday afternoon, a man turned himself in to police and said he had shot his sister's boyfriend.
Eric Tyrone Waller, 25, of the 1000 block of 22nd Street Northwest has been charged with first-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, police said. He is being held at the Roanoke City Jail without bond.
Waller's sister, Sharon Wilson, told police her brother showed up about 4:30 p.m. at the Grayson Avenue home she shared with her boyfriend, Marvin T. Williams.
Williams asked Waller "if he was there to straighten him out," police said.
Then, according to police, Waller pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and shot the 20-year-old Williams in the face.
Williams fell to the floor, and several more shots were fired, police said. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he died.
Several people who knew Wilson and the victim said the couple had a stormy relationship often punctuated with physical violence.
One person said Williams "stayed in a lot of trouble."
This is the city's first homicide of 1996. Over the past decade, the city has averaged about 14 homicides a year. In most cases, the people involved knew each other.
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines KEYWORDS: ROMURby CNB