THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190596
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
The wife of a former high-ranking police official says her husband shot her five years ago.
At the time of the shooting, she told authorities she had accidentally shot herself.
``I did not shoot myself,'' Carol Ledford said Wednesday. She is now estranged from retired Newport News police Maj. James D. Ledford and took out a warrant this week accusing him of stalking her.
Ledford, 54, retired in March 1990, seven months after the 1989 shooting that pierced his wife's liver.
Carol Ledford said she and her husband had been drinking heavily at home when ``he picked up the gun and fired it.''
She said she lied ``to protect him'' and hoped he would get help for an alleged drinking problem.
Although evidence at the scene suggested that Ledford had handled the gun and investigators suspected he may have shot his wife, Carol Ledford's statements prevented any prosecution.
Ledford was placed on administrative leave during an internal police investigation. Then-Police Chief Jay A. Carey said there would be ``a full and complete accounting'' but never provided details of the probe.
Police Chief William F. Corvello, who replaced Carey this summer, plans to review the shooting case because of Carol Ledford's claim, police spokesman Bill Roth said.
However, Roth said Corvello doesn't have reason to believe that the original investigation was handled improperly and there are no plans to charge Carol Ledford with making a false statement.
Carol Ledford said she and her husband have been separated since June.
She said she saw him watching her from a car outside her home Aug. 1, although a court order bars the couple from going near each other. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
James D. Ledford
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING INJURIES STALKING by CNB