ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996            TAG: 9612230056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER

OFFICER CLEARED IN SHOOTING VICTIM WAS DRUNK, BRANDISHING GUNS

Roanoke prosecutors have concluded a police officer acted in self-defense Oct. 20 when he shot and killed a drunken man who was waving a .44-caliber Magnum revolver in one hand and a semiautomatic pistol in the other.

Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell announced Friday that he was closing the case. He said Officer A.C. Lampe was forced to make a split-second decision to protect himself and others in a residential neighborhood.

Caldwell said evidence indicates Rodney Lee Wilhelm, 41, advanced on Lampe in the middle of the street saying, "I'm going to count to three. One Two Three." Then there was a muzzle flash and a bang - which investigators later determined was Wilhelm firing the revolver into the pavement.

In the dark, Caldwell said, there was no way for Lampe to know where Wilhelm was firing. Also, he said, Wilhelm had a Tec-9 assault weapon in the other hand, with the barrel pointing in Lampe's direction, though not leveled directly at him.

The prosecutor said Lampe fired and hit Wilhelm twice in the front and then twice in the back.

Caldwell said it is not unusual for people to get hit in the back because they instinctively twist around to get away from the flash of gunfire.

"It's just another example of what the police have to deal with all too frequently here in the city," Caldwell said. "We've got a man out here in a residential neighborhood, and he's carrying two different weapons which are capable of penetrating into houses."

The prosecutor said there was evidence Wilhelm might have suffered from emotional problems. In the past four years, police had received several 911 calls about domestic disturbances at his house. Friends told The Roanoke Times that he had recently been depressed.

Further complicating things, he had been drinking that night. His blood-alcohol content that night was 0.16 percent, twice the level at which state law says a person is drunk.

Whenever police officers shoot someone, prosecutors must review the case to determine if they acted within the law. In this instance, Caldwell said he found no criminal conduct and will consider the matter closed unless new evidence emerges. As in all such cases, he said, Wilhelm's family is free to pursue a lawsuit if they believe the police did anything wrong.

The events leading to Wilhelm's death began about 2 a.m. Oct.20, a Sunday, at Wilhelm's home on Padbury Avenue Southeast. A family friend told The Roanoke Times that Wilhelm reached a boiling point when one of his teen-age sons didn't want to go to bed. The friend said Wilhelm loaded his Tec-9 and his revolver and started arguing with his son.

The friend said he tried to calm Wilhelm down, but Wilhelm put a gun "up to my face and said, 'I'm going to count to three. If you don't get out of my way, I'll shoot you.'''

Investigators say Wilhelm fired five shots inside his house - through the screen door and his bay window. Then Wilhelm left his house and headed down Jerome Street.

Police began getting 911 calls. The first officer to arrive, D.C. Dean, was confronted by Wilhelm, who told him to "back off." Dean backed up his police cruiser toward Bennington Street.

Then Lampe drove up from the other end of Jerome Street. He got out of his car, and Wilhelm turned and began coming at him, yelling.

Wilhelm fired his .44 into the street and dropped it, still holding the semiautomatic in his other hand.

Lampe fired five times.

It all happened within two seconds, Caldwell said.

Wilhelm, a former rock quarry worker, died in the street about 100 feet from his home. Three of the four bullets that hit him caused lethal wounds, Caldwell said.

LENGTH: Medium:   77 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ERIC BRADY Staff. Police say Rodney Lee Wilhelm 
          brandished these guns the night a Roanoke officer shot and killed 
          him. The 9mm gun on the left is an Intratec TEC-DC9. Its street name
          is Tec-9. The gun on the right is a Hawes .44-caliber Magnum 
          revolver.
KEYWORDS: FATALITY