THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020304
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Metro brief
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
An autopsy has determined that a man who died during a standoff with police on Tuesday was killed by a bullet he fired himself.
Jason W. Scruggs, 26, was hit by two bullets - one fired by a police officer. But the fatal wound was from a gunshot to the head, and that bullet came from a gun Scruggs was holding, police said.
Police were called to Big Leaf Circle in the London Bridge area about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on a report that a distraught Scruggs had a weapon and was in a house with his mother.
Uncertain of what was happening in the house, officers treated the call as if the mother were a hostage. The department's SWAT team was alerted, but before they could arrive, the mother left the home.
Moments later, Scruggs ran out a rear door, where officers John D. Davis and Julia H. Fulton were stationed.
Police and witnesses said the officers ordered Scruggs to drop the weapon. Instead, he raised the gun and the officers fired.
One police bullet missed Scruggs; the other hit him in the chest.
The commonwealth's attorney's office investigated the incident and has found no evidence of wrongdoing by the officers.
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE SUICIDE STANDOFF by CNB