ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610210130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
Rodney Lee Wilhelm suddenly reached his boiling point about 2 a.m. Sunday.
When one of his teen-age sons refused to go to bed, Wilhelm unlocked the door to the master bedroom and started loading his Tech-9 assault weapon and his .44-caliber handgun.
Everything was fine until he started arguing with his son, and the boy hit Wilhelm in the face, said a 23-year-old friend of Wilhelm's who was visiting the family early Sunday. He asked that his name not be published.
"Man, you don't want to be pulling out no guns; everyone is having such a good time," the friend remembers telling Wilhelm. "But he put [the gun] up to my face and he said, 'I'm going to count to three. If you don't get out of my way, I'll shoot you.'''
Wilhelm, 41, fired several shots through his screen door, into his bay window and in the street.
By the time two Roanoke patrol officers responded, Wilhelm had left his home at 1604 Padbury St. S.E. and walked down the road to Jerome Street, near Dundee Avenue, holding the Tech-9 to his head, according to witnesses. Then, he turned and fired five times at one of the officers.
"He shot at the officer after the officer told him to put it down," said a neighbor who would not give his name but said he saw the exchange of gunfire. "The man was standing there with a gun to his head saying, 'Bang, bang, bang.' When the officer came and told him to put it down, he just snapped."
Officer A.C. Lampe fired at least four rounds in response, apparently hitting Wilhelm twice, according to a police news release. Wilhelm fell to the ground and died about 100 feet from home.
Sunday afternoon, Chief M. David Hooper said an internal investigation was not complete, but that preliminary findings indicated Lampe followed department policy.
"Based on what we have now, it appears to be justifiable," Hooper said. "But obviously, we're not through. We've interviewed witnesses and reviewed the crime scene, but the balance has yet to be completed."
Autopsy results on Wilhelm are pending. Police were just beginning to review any previous contact with the former rock-quarry worker.
Wilhelm returned home about 1 a.m. Sunday from a local bar, according to his 23-year-old friend, who said he did not appear to be intoxicated.
"He was in a good mood for about an hour," the friend said. "But then his son told him to go to hell and that he'd go to bed whenever he wanted to. [The son] had smacked him in the face."
Police said they responded to the 1800 block of Jerome Street about 3 a.m. after one of Wilhelm's sons called for help.
Wilhelm's two sons had run after their father. They sought shelter at an apartment complex, telling a woman to also call police because their father was "flipping out."
"Not even three minutes after that, the police came up here," said the woman, who wouldn't give her name. "I was talking to dispatch that they need more police officers because he wasn't dropping his gun. More shots were fired, and that was it."
Officer D.C. Dean arrived first in the neighborhood just off Bennington Street near the Roanoke River. Wilhelm held a gun in his right hand and ordered Dean to back off as he counted down from three, police said. Dean backed away, and Lampe approached from the opposite direction.
When Lampe arrived, police said, Wilhelm fired his .44-caliber gun toward the street and dropped it. As Wilhelm approached Lampe, Wilhelm pointed his Tech-9 at him, despite Lampe's warnings to drop the gun. Lampe then fired four to five times, police said. The police account differed slightly from that of one of the witnesses, who said Wilhelm fired his Tech-9 at Lampe.
Wilhelm's family could not be reached for comment. His friends said he had recently been depressed but hadn't talked about why.
This is the second use of fatal force by Roanoke police this year. In March, officers tried to arrest a man during a domestic dispute in Northwest Roanoke. When the man leveled a hunting rifle at the officers, they opened fire, killing him. The man did not fire. Authorities ruled that shooting justifiable.
After Sunday's incident, Lampe, who has been with the department for about a year and on the street for the past eight months, was placed on mandatory administrative leave, Hooper said.
"He's doing well," Hooper said. "But those things can change almost from hour to hour."
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB