ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 26, 1996 TAG: 9612260055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALE CITY
SOURCE: Associated Press
It started as a Christmas party, but ended tragically in what a prosecutor called ``a sign of the times'' - with a party-goer fatally wounded in a hail of bullets fired by gang members.
Gerald K. Dillard, 43, died Monday at Washington Hospital Center. The father of three was shot in the back of the head by gang members who riddled the house with gunfire after being asked to leave, police said.
Dillard was sitting near his wife at the gathering of about 35 friends, co-workers and members of a bowling league when he was shot about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
``It's a sign of the times,'' Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert said. ``We are seeing more group-related crimes of retaliation for little or no reason. It seems like the value of human life means nothing.''
Five teen-agers identified by police as members of the local high school gang ``Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' were arrested and charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Ebert said the charges would be reviewed following Dillard's death.
The teens charged were Gerard McDermott, 18; Joshua Morrow, 19; Favian Armstrong, 18; and two juvenile boys, ages 16 and 17. All five are being held without bond. Ebert hopes to have the two juveniles tried as adults.
The teen-agers arrived at the party about midnight, police said, and soon were asked to leave because they made the other guests uncomfortable. About an hour later, the five returned with a shotgun, a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver, police said, and began shooting.
``They shot up the cars out front. They shot at the house,'' said police spokeswoman Susan Crosbie. ``At least one of the rounds went through a window. The innocent man, just a guest, was shot in the head through the window.''
Dillard was the service manager for a local car dealership.
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB