ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
No one has been arrested for the shooting death of 17-year-old Antwan Hilton Gray, but a steady stream of calls and visits to police has provided some leads.
Gray was killed about 7 p.m. Wednesday near Lansdowne Park public housing development. He was already dead when police found him lying in the 2400 block of Centre Avenue Northwest.
Though several shots apparently were fired, Gray died from one gunshot wound to the head, according to an autopsy performed Thursday. Police would not say how many times he was shot.
The shooter was reportedly standing near the top of a long flight of steps when he fired, police said.
The investigation was hampered by a crowd of people who wouldn't step back from the crime scene. A homicide sergeant decided to move Gray's body before completing the procedures that are standard in such cases.
After the crowd's anger - directed mostly at the media - subsided, people came forward with information, police said.
Police have not determined if two other shootings Wednesday night were related to Gray's death.
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the left temple while walking in Villa Heights. Police found him at his Forest Park home about 7:45 p.m. holding a towel to his head. He was conscious.
As the boy and two friends walked, they heard four to five shots and the two friends dove to the ground.
The wounded boy was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, but police did not know his condition Thursday evening.
A Southwest Roanoke man was shot later Wednesday night in the same block of Centre Avenue where Gray was killed.
The man told police he saw a dark car with tinted windows heading east on Centre as he left a friend's apartment about 11:40.
The car made a U-turn, and the man saw a back window being rolled down. Six shots were fired; one struck his elbow. He was treated at Roanoke Memorial.
Gray's death was the 11th homicide in the city this year. Arrests have been made in all but one: the June 6 slayings of Manfred and Wanda Woody, who were found beaten to death in the kitchen of their Day Avenue home.
There were 15 homicides in 1995.
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