ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A 42-year-old man died early Wednesday after he was shot in the head during an argument with his wife, police said. Garrett Wayne Cunningham of 603 10th Street Northwest died at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital at 8 a.m.
Cunningham's wife, Rhonda Banks Cunningham, 36, told police the shooting was an accident. She has not been charged. An autopsy is expected to be completed today. The case then will be referred to Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, according to Maj. J.L. Viar.
Police said Rhonda Cunningham told them the couple had a violent history. When they began to argue about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, she got a pistol and placed it to her head. As she lowered it, her husband tried to wrestle the gun from her, and it discharged, she told police.
In other police reports:
* A 30-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder and use of a firearm in connection with a spring shooting. Police had been looking for John William Adams since March.
Tuesday, information gathered during the investigation led police to a residence in the 2000 block of Bunche Drive Northwest, where they found Adams. Police said Adams told them he was going to turn himself in but was waiting until his second child was born.
The shooting occurred just after midnight March1. Police responded to a report of shots fired at a nightclub in the 1700 block of Melrose Avenue Northwest and found Elbert Stevenson Wilson, 42, on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound in his lower back. Police said Wilson was arguing with a woman when a man intervened. Wilson and the man walked away from the woman, and she heard a gunshot. Police said the man was later identified as Adams.
Investigators did not know the condition of Wilson, who could not be reached for comment.
Adams was being held without bond Wednesday in Roanoke City Jail.
* A 17-year-old was robbed and stripped at gunpoint late Tuesday as he walked home in Northwest Roanoke. Police said the teen-ager was walking about 10:50 p.m. on Range Road Northwest when an older blue car with two men inside pulled up. One of the men pointed a small, chrome pistol and told the teen-ager to empty his pockets. The teen-ager gave the men $65. The men then forced him to undress.
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB