DATE: Monday, July 28, 1997                 TAG: 9707280091

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   52 lines

TEEN ARRESTED AFTER WOMEN REPORT CHASE AND GUNSHOT

Apparently angered at being ignored by a group of women they ran into in a convenience store, four men pursued them down a highway early Sunday, allegedly hurling objects at their car and shouting obscenities - and possibly firing a gun.

Thanks to good descriptions from the women, however, and a daylong investigation by state police, a 17-year-old was arrested Sunday afternoon.

Tammy Van Dame, a state police spokeswoman, said the incident began about 4:45 a.m.

Five women - ages 17 to 25 and all from Portsmouth or Chesapeake - stopped at a 7-Eleven at 24th Street and Pacific Avenue to get some drinks, she said.

The women said four men followed them inside and tried to get their attention. The women ignored them, completed their purchases and left.

The women got on the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway and were heading west when, shortly after leaving the Oceanfront, they realized the same group of men was following them in another car. The car was being driven in ``an aggressive manner,'' Van Dame said.

As the cars neared the Lynnhaven interchange, the men hurled coins and made obscene gestures at the women. The men pulled up on the right side of the women's car.

``The driver (in the women's car) saw the left-rear passenger brandish what appeared to be a weapon,'' Van Dame said. A moment later, she saw a ``muzzle flash and heard a single noise, believed to be a gunshot.''

The women got off the Expressway at Lynnhaven Parkway and called state police.

Troopers T.A. Cunningham and S.J. Sullivan spoke with the women, who provided detailed information. That proved critical.

``We had a great witness account,'' Van Dame said. The women gave an ``extremely detailed description of the vehicle and suspects, including the suspects' shoes and clothing manufacturers.''

The troopers also went to the 7-Eleven, where they were able to get a security camera surveillance tape showing the men in the store.

By Sunday afternoon, the troopers had identified everyone in the men's car, Van Dame said.

Only the juvenile was charged, however, and that was with firing into an occupied vehicle - a felony. The troopers arrested him without incident at his Deep Creek home. The weapon has not been recovered.

Van Dame said the arrest would have been impossible without the victims' careful attention to detail.

``Incidents of this nature are difficult to make an arrest on,'' Van Dame said, often because traumatized victims can remember little. ``As frightening as this was, they were able to recall such detail,'' she said. ``That really assisted us.'' KEYWORDS: SHOOTING ARREST INTERSTATE SHOOTING

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