Tweet
August 15, 2003
2 gunned down
Woman, man shot dead outside Campbells Creek, Cedar Grove gas stations
By Paul Wilson
Staff Writer
Two people were killed late Thursday in separate shootings outside Kanawha County convenience stores, in what police said could be related random shootings.
The two became the second and third people shot dead outside Kanawha Valley convenience stores within four days, and the third and fourth people murdered in Kanawha County on a bloody Thursday.
Thursday night, a woman was gunned down while pumping gas at a Campbells Creek convenience store about 10:20 p.m., while another person was shot slightly more than an hour later outside a Cedar Grove store. Both were killed.
“They appear to be random shootings,” said Lt. J.S. Bailes, Kanawha County sheriff’s spokesman.
Initial reports were that the Campbells Creek victim had been shot in the head, but that could not be confirmed. Witnesses also said the Cedar Grove victim was shot in the head, though authorities did not confirm that, either.
Sunday night, a South Charleston resident also was shot in the head and killed outside a convenience store. George Carrier Jr. 34, was killed while using a pay telephone outside a Charleston Go-Mart.
Late Thursday, police across the Valley were alerted to increase patrols around stores with gas pumps. Police were alerted to look for a black pickup truck with gold trim seen leaving the Cedar Grove store and a dark-green or blue Chevrolet Corsica from the Campbells Creek shooting.
Witnesses heard a gunshot but saw no one at the Campbells Creek shooting, county dispatchers said.
That incident left a woman lying dead next to her red Pontiac Firebird. She had been pumping gasoline at the Speedway SuperAmerica store, 524 Campbells Creek Drive, when she was shot. The name of the victim — whose body was covered with a sheet on the store’s parking lot late Thursday — was not immediately released.
The second shooting occurred about 10 miles away around 11:30 p.m. at the Go-Mart in Cedar Grove on U.S. 60. Bailes had few details, but said a person outside the store was shot.
That person died and the body was lying covered with a sheet early today, while a maroon pickup truck was parked nearby in the lot.
Campbells Creek resident Rick Clay said his 16-year-old son, Cody Ryan Clay, had tried to resuscitate the Speedway victim. Cody Ryan Clay and his grandmother, Sandy Clay, had heard one shot and ran to the store from their adjacent residence, his father said.
Rand resident Arietta King said she saw a blue Chevrolet Corsica go speeding past her on Campbells Creek Drive, about a half-mile from the store. She then came upon the woman’s body, lying on the ground next to her car.
Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies were questioning store employees and customers late Thursday and would not release any information.
That’s what brought Georges Creek resident Tina Adkins to the Campbells Creek homicide scene.
Her sister, Wendy Tuell of Rand, had been leaving the store when she heard what she had described to her husband in a short phone conversation as a firecracker. She did not believe her sister had witnessed the shooting.
She spotted her on the parking lot in a red shirt. “Thank God she’s alright,” Adkins said.
The two victims’ deaths became the fifteenth murders in Kanawha County this year. Charleston has had 10 of those homicides, including a man and woman found shot to death early Thursday in a car parked on the city’s West Side.
Staff writer Tom Searls contributed to this report.
2 gunned down
Woman, man shot dead outside Campbells Creek, Cedar Grove gas stations
By Paul Wilson
Staff Writer
Two people were killed late Thursday in separate shootings outside Kanawha County convenience stores, in what police said could be related random shootings.
The two became the second and third people shot dead outside Kanawha Valley convenience stores within four days, and the third and fourth people murdered in Kanawha County on a bloody Thursday.
Thursday night, a woman was gunned down while pumping gas at a Campbells Creek convenience store about 10:20 p.m., while another person was shot slightly more than an hour later outside a Cedar Grove store. Both were killed.
“They appear to be random shootings,” said Lt. J.S. Bailes, Kanawha County sheriff’s spokesman.
Initial reports were that the Campbells Creek victim had been shot in the head, but that could not be confirmed. Witnesses also said the Cedar Grove victim was shot in the head, though authorities did not confirm that, either.
Sunday night, a South Charleston resident also was shot in the head and killed outside a convenience store. George Carrier Jr. 34, was killed while using a pay telephone outside a Charleston Go-Mart.
Late Thursday, police across the Valley were alerted to increase patrols around stores with gas pumps. Police were alerted to look for a black pickup truck with gold trim seen leaving the Cedar Grove store and a dark-green or blue Chevrolet Corsica from the Campbells Creek shooting.
Witnesses heard a gunshot but saw no one at the Campbells Creek shooting, county dispatchers said.
That incident left a woman lying dead next to her red Pontiac Firebird. She had been pumping gasoline at the Speedway SuperAmerica store, 524 Campbells Creek Drive, when she was shot. The name of the victim — whose body was covered with a sheet on the store’s parking lot late Thursday — was not immediately released.
The second shooting occurred about 10 miles away around 11:30 p.m. at the Go-Mart in Cedar Grove on U.S. 60. Bailes had few details, but said a person outside the store was shot.
That person died and the body was lying covered with a sheet early today, while a maroon pickup truck was parked nearby in the lot.
Campbells Creek resident Rick Clay said his 16-year-old son, Cody Ryan Clay, had tried to resuscitate the Speedway victim. Cody Ryan Clay and his grandmother, Sandy Clay, had heard one shot and ran to the store from their adjacent residence, his father said.
Rand resident Arietta King said she saw a blue Chevrolet Corsica go speeding past her on Campbells Creek Drive, about a half-mile from the store. She then came upon the woman’s body, lying on the ground next to her car.
Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies were questioning store employees and customers late Thursday and would not release any information.
That’s what brought Georges Creek resident Tina Adkins to the Campbells Creek homicide scene.
Her sister, Wendy Tuell of Rand, had been leaving the store when she heard what she had described to her husband in a short phone conversation as a firecracker. She did not believe her sister had witnessed the shooting.
She spotted her on the parking lot in a red shirt. “Thank God she’s alright,” Adkins said.
The two victims’ deaths became the fifteenth murders in Kanawha County this year. Charleston has had 10 of those homicides, including a man and woman found shot to death early Thursday in a car parked on the city’s West Side.
Staff writer Tom Searls contributed to this report.
Comment