THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280367
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
For the third time within 30 days, an armed man has died in a confrontation with police.
It was unclear, however, if the gunshot that killed 26-year-old Jason W. Scruggs on Tuesday was self-inflicted or if it came from one of two officers who fired at the distraught man.
Police spokesman Lou Thurston said three shots were fired during the brief confrontation in a cramped townhome yard encircled by a six-foot wooden privacy fence. Two of the shots were fired by police - one missed and struck the ground, the other hit Scruggs in the upper body. The suspect fired the third shot into his head. He died at the scene.
The order of the shots, believed to be nearly simultaneous, is what detectives are investigating. An autopsy may determine which round was deadly, although police said both bullets could have ended Scruggs' life.
The shooting happened on Big Leaf Circle in the London Bridge area just before 1 p.m.
Scruggs was upset because a 16-year-old neighborhood girl with whom he was smitten was pregnant by someone else, acquaintances said.
Scruggs called the girl Tuesday, and the girl told her friend, Megan Kelly, to listen quietly on an extension line.
``He said he was hurt and he wanted to hurt the baby,'' Kelly said. ``He was upset because she was pregnant . . . and he said he had been drinking and was going to kill himself. He scared both of us.''
Kelly said Scruggs had been obsessed with the young neighborhood girl since meeting her four years ago.
``He told her he liked her, and she backed off,'' Kelly said. Then, when Scruggs found out the girl was pregnant, he became despondent, Kelly said.
Police were called around 12:30 p.m. When the first officers arrived, they learned Scruggs was armed and his mother was in the home with him. They couldn't tell if she was inside voluntarily, or if Scruggs was holding her hostage, said Thurston, the police spokesman.
Thurston said the officers treated the call as if the mother were a hostage. The department's SWAT team was alerted, but the incident escalated before the team could assemble.
Soon after first officers arrived, the mother somehow left the townhome through the front door. A witness said a police officer pulled the mother outside, but Thurston said he wasn't sure exactly how she left.
Moments after his mother left, Scruggs ran through the townhome and out the rear door, where two officers were stationed.
Thurston said, and witnesses confirmed, the officers ordered Scruggs to drop his weapon, but he refused. ``I heard the police shouting, `Put the gun down, son, put the gun down,' at least three or four times,'' said Barbara Damron, a neighbor who was in her back yard when Scruggs suddenly appeared outside his home and came face-to-face with the two officers. ``Then I heard three or four shots and a lot of commotion. I ran inside and shut the door.''
Thurston said Scruggs raised the gun despite the officers' commands, and they fired. Thurston said the officers believed they were in danger.
In the past dozen years, there have been eight fatal police-involved shootings in the city. Three have happened in the past 30 days.
On Saturday, a suspect in two murders and several other crimes shot at two city police officers who were pursuing him. One bullet passed through an officer's pants leg. The police returned fire and killed Sammy Gary, 20.
On Jan. 31, an armed robber shot at a police officer in the Hilltop area. The officer killed the suspect.
All police shootings are investigated by detectives and representatives of the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. Thurston said there was no indication Tuesday that the officers who fired at Scruggs acted improperly.
None of the officers involved in the shootings were hurt. ILLUSTRATION: Map
KEN WRIGHT/The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: FATALITY VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT
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