THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300377
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
One man held a rifle to Michael Chasteen's head while another demanded money. Minutes later, after putting up a fight, the Old Dominion junior was crawling to a nearby 7-Eleven with wounds on both legs.
Chasteen, 28, was shot four times in his left leg and his right leg was grazed Tuesday night when he tried to grab the gun.
The shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. on 48th Street across Hampton Boulevard from the ODU campus. The assailants ran away.
``Just the way they were talking made me believe they were going to pop me in the head,'' Chasteen said Wednesday from his hospital room. ``I figured fighting for the gun was better than living as a vegetable or being dead.''
Chasteen said he walked from his apartment to pick up beer and a small box of laundry detergent from the convenience store. As he returned, the two men approached him near the entrance of his building.
One of the men waved the rifle around Chasteen's head and neck. When Chasteen produced only $3, the thieves became agitated, he said.
After he was shot, Chasteen said, he fell to his knees, then limped and crawled to the 7-Eleven, yelling for help. Two men in the store called for an ambulance.
Doctors on Wednesday said his prognosis was good. Police are looking for suspects in the shooting.
``I was extremely surprised this happened so close to campus,'' Chasteen said. ``This is right there. People are walking back and forth through campus at night all the time.''
Tuesday night's incident is the second reported shooting near ODU this year. On Feb. 10, Kevin Gallegos, a delivery-truck driver, was shot and killed in front of another 7-Eleven in the 4000 block of Hampton Blvd. while he was using a pay phone.
David F. Harnage, the university's vice president for administration and finance, cited the shooting of Gallegos when last week he explained plans by ODU to expand its boundaries eastward to Killam Avenue between 38th and 49th streets.
Harnage, talking to a group of students, faculty and business operators, said he hoped the expansion would help reduce the perception that the neighborhood across Hampton Boulevard from the main campus is unsafe. ILLUSTRATION: STAFF MAP
TWO SHOOTINGS
1. 48th St. & Hampton Blvd.
ODU studetn shot Tuesday night at the 7-Eleven.
2. 4000 Block Hampton Blvd.
Site of shooting earlier this year at a different 7-Eleven.
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING INJURIES ROBBERY CONVENIENCE STORE ODU by CNB