THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 13, 1996 TAG: 9608130278
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 69 lines
A confrontation that apparently began at a crowded back-to-school pool party at the YMCA near Mount Trashmore spawned gunfire that hit a passing van and critically hurt the passenger early Monday, police and witnesses said.
A bullet slammed into Jacque Pratscher's right cheek, shattering her jaw and lodging in the base of her neck as her husband drove her home from a late shift at a grocery store.
The couple's 12-year-old daughter, also in the van, was not hurt.
No one has been arrested. Police say they do not know who fired the shot.
``I knew right away I had been shot,'' Pratscher said from her hospital bed Monday afternoon. After she was hit, the former rescue worker calmly told her husband to drive to the nearest fire station.
``I could feel the blood pouring down me,'' Pratscher said. ``I thought, `It's warm, there's a lot of it, and if it hit my carotid (artery), I am going to die before we can get to the Fire Department.' ''
Around midnight, the YMCA staff had grown uneasy with the guests' demeanor, police and facility officials said. The private party was supposed to have 100 guests, but 300 showed up, putting the facility far over its capacity.
A YMCA supervisor called police to have the unruly party broken up, said Beverly Blount, a facility spokeswoman. She said many guests were drinking alcohol, which is against the rules.
Blount said she did not know who sponsored the party or who reserved the pool from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The person who made the reservation is not a YMCA member, she said.
When police arrived, gunfire erupted and many party-goers jumped into cars and sped from the parking lot. An officer radioed for help, and at least a dozen police cruisers headed for the building.
``There were a whole bunch of cars leaving the YMCA as fast as they could get out,'' said James Pratscher, a Marine first sergeant. ``We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.''
James Pratscher was driving the van east on South Boulevard near the YMCA when the shooting began. As the van passed the building, Jacque said, she heard the first salvo of gunshots.
One car sped past the Pratschers' van in the left lane of the two-lane road, James Pratscher said. Then a second car approached from behind, but an oncoming car prevented it from passing in the left lane. The driver instead veered halfway onto a bicycle path to the right of the van. As the car passed, two shots hit the van. A third hit Jacque Pratscher in the face.
``It wasn't us they were after,'' James Pratscher said. ``We were just trying to go home.''
He said he thinks that the second car was trying to catch the first car and that the occupants may have been frustrated when they could not pass the van quickly enough.
But police spokesman Lou Thurston said investigators do not know why the shots were fired.
After the shooting, James Pratscher drove to Fire Station No. 16 on South Plaza Trail, where rescue workers helped Jacque.
The bullet narrowly missed her spine, an artery and a vein. Even so, she felt herself slipping into shock. She lost consciousness and was taken to the trauma center at Virginia Beach General Hospital in critical condition. By Monday afternoon, her condition was upgraded to fair.
Today, surgeons will try to repair her broken jaw.
Police were looking for a burgundy late-model car after the shooting. One person inside was wearing a yellow suit. Anyone with information is asked to call 427-0000. A reward of up to $1,000 is available for information leading to an arrest. ILLUSTRATION: Map
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING ASSAULT by CNB