Across Virginia
MGN
Vinton, VA – On October 25, 2022, at 6:13 PM officers of the Vinton Police Department attempted to serve an Emergency Custody Order on a resident at the 700 block of Ramada Rd. Upon the officer’s arrival, the subject barricaded himself inside a locked bedroom inside the residence. Statements were made by the resident that compromised the safety of the scene if officers tried to gain access. Roanoke County S.W.A.T was called for assistance along with a negotiator team. At 9:24 PM, the subject surrendered and was taken into custody on the active Emergency Custody Order without further incident. The subject was transported to Lewis Gale Hospital for a medical evaluation. No injuries occurred to the officers or the subject during the incident.
Glenn Youngkin is discussing his plan to address learning losses of Virginia fourth- and eighth-grade students outlined in this year’s national reading and mathematics tests. WFIR’s Clark Palmer spoke to the Governor earlier today.
USDA photo
There is an insect that is native to China spreading across the mid-Atlantic region, one that is harmful to fruit crops — only this time, it is not the stink bug. The spotted lanternfly was first seen in the US about seven years ago in Pennsylvania. At Virginia Tech’s Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Director Kevin Rice says it is spreading quickly, in large part because females will lay eggs on just about any flat surface, including movable ones like cars and train cargo.
Researchers are looking at how to most effectively contain the Spotted Lanternfly population, in part by learning which insecticides work best. But they’re also investigating how two fungus species native to North America that attack insects might make for the most effective and environmentally sustainable long-term solution if they can be applied in sort sort of spray form. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
A new survey is asking older Virginians about what resources they need and what services are working for them. Officials with the state department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services say the online survey seeks resident feedback about things like transportation, meals, and in-home support. The agency says information from the survey will help the agency plan services for the next several years.
You can access the survey by clicking the link below:
FINCASTLE, VA – On October 8, 2022, Botetourt County Sheriff Office Deputies responded to the Glen Wilton Park and Ride along Botetourt Road (Route 220) to find a deceased female lying in the gravel lot from an apparent gunshot wound.Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office detectives and an investigator with the medical examiner’s office examined the scene extensively. Detectives soon discovered that the victim’s car was found abandoned and burned in a secluded area of Bath County.
The body of the female victim was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Roanoke where an autopsy was performed, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. The office of the medical examiner has identified the victim as Elizabeth Hensley of Roanoke VA.The victim’s family has been notified and our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.
Detectives have been working closely with the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the High-Tech Crimes Division to determine the circumstances surrounding Hensley’s death, including following leads that have involved multiple jurisdictions. Certain details and updates crucial to this investigation have not been made public to protect the integrity of the investigation and to provide privacy for the victim’s family. Detectives working this case have found the crime, though horrific, was not a random act, and the public should not be deterred from their daily activities.
Detectives continue to request that anyone with information regarding this case to please contact the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office at 540-473-8631.
DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — Three students and a teacher were taken to hospitals Wednesday after a fire broke out during a demonstration in a Virginia high school chemistry classroom, officials said.
When the fire broke out in the classroom at Dinwiddie High School, the fire alarm was pulled and all students were evacuated from the building, Dinwiddie County Public Schools officials said in a statement.
A teacher was taken to a local hospital and three students were taken to VCU Medical Center, officials said. Officials didn’t release details of their conditions. One student was treated at the scene and released.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, officials said.
Students were dismissed early and Thursday will be an asynchronous learning day, officials said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room.
Taking the stand in the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Terry Cummings showed jurors an AR-15 firearm and an orange box for ammunition that he contributed to the so-called quick reaction force the Oath Keepers had staged at the hotel outside of Washington in case they needed weapons.
“I had not seen that many weapons in one location since I was in the military,” said Cummings, a veteran who joined the Oath Keepers in Florida in 2020.
Prosecutors have said teams of Oath Keepers guarded the arsenal of firearms and were prepared to rush them into the hands of extremists in the capital if needed.
The alleged teams and the cache of weapons are a central piece of the Department of Justice’s case against Rhodes and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Members of the Oath Keepers stashed the firearms just outside Washington district limits, given the capitol’s tougher gun laws.
Authorities have alleged the teams and the stockpile of arms were designed to get weapons into Oath Keepers’ hands quickly if they were needed to support a plot to stop the transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.
Cummings’ testimony came in the second week of the trial that is expected to last several weeks. The others on trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio; and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida.
Defense lawyers have not denied the existence of the quick reaction teams but noted that they were never deployed on Jan. 6. They have accused prosecutors of falsely portraying them as an invasion force.
Defense lawyers have said the Oath Keepers often set up quick reaction forces for events, but insist they were defensive forces only to be used to protect against violence from antifa activists or in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. They are not facing any gun charges for bringing the weapons to Virginia.
Rhodes’ lawyers have said they will argue that cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before Jan. 6 were in preparation for orders he anticipated from Trump under the Insurrection Act, which gives presidents wide discretion to decide when military force is necessary.
Cummings told jurors that he traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 with other Oath Keepers to be part of a VIP security detail for Trump’s rally at the Ellipse. He said he saw it as an opportunity to “express my First Amendment rights” and see a sitting president speak, which he had never done.
Cummings said his understanding was the quick reaction forces “would potentially be used not as an offensive situation, but more as a show of force.”
Cummings said he was part of a group that acted as a security team for a VIP at Trump’s rally before the riot. Cummings and other Oath Keepers left before Trump’s speech was finished and went toward the Capitol.
He recalled Meggs talked about entering the Capitol – something Cummings didn’t think was a good idea. He then split off to find a bathroom, and when he returned the group was gone. The group entered the Capitol while he was away, he said. Up to an hour later, Cummings rejoined fellow Oath Keepers from Florida, and eventually Rhodes appeared as well.
Cummings said he did not hear any talk about plans to storm or attack the Capitol, though he also said he wasn’t in a position of leadership. He has not faced criminal charges, was subpoenaed to testify for the government and acknowledged on the stand that he has contributed to the legal defense fund of some of the defendants.
Authorities have said that Meggs and the Florida Oath Keepers on Jan. 5 brought gun boxes, rifle cases and suitcases filled with ammunition to the Virginia hotel that served as the home for the quick reaction force. Another team from Arizona brought weapons, ammunition, and supplies to last 30 days, according to court papers. A team from North Carolina had rifles in a vehicle parked in the hotel lot, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors have described surveillance footage that they say shows Oath Keepers rolling bags, large bins and what appears to be at least one rifle case into the hotel.
Over several days in early January, Rhodes spent $15,500 on guns, including an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment, prosecutors have said. Caldwell, in one message, suggested getting a boat to ferry “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River into the Oath Keepers’ “waiting arms.”
A former Oath Keeper from North Carolina last week described setting up a quick reaction force for the “Million MAGA March” in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Thousands of Trump supporters that day gathered at Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to rally behind Trump’s false election claims.
The former Oath Keeper, John Zimmerman, told jurors that the Oath Keepers stashed at least a dozen rifles and several handguns in his van parked at Arlington National Cemetery to serve as the quick reaction force on that occasion. He said they never took the guns into Washington.
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Brock Doman proved an able replacement for injured Malik Cunningham, throwing for one touchdown, running for another and leading Louisville to a 34-17 victory at Virginia on Saturday.
Domann overcame a slow start — his first completion was to former teammate Anthony Johnson, now a Virginia defensive back — and evoked thoughts of Cunningham when he took off on a 44-yard run for a tying touchdown.
“That even tricked me,” Louisville strong safety M.J. Griffin, who also started, said. “I didn’t even think he had the ball honestly.”
Domann found out he was starting on Sunday, but even with a week to prepare, said it took him awhile to get settled.
“I was in my own way in the first quarter,” he said after finishing 17 for 30 for 275 yards with two interceptions. “As much as you want to prepare for your first start, you need to get out of your own way. Once I did that, this team was amazing.”The Cardinals (3-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) were without Cunningham, who had started a school-record 40 consecutive games, as he remained sidelined by a concussion sustained last week against Boston College.
Brennan Armstrong threw for a touchdown and ran for one for the Cavaliers (2-4, 0-3), but also helped kill Virginia’s first quarter momentum when he fumbled the ball away and threw a pair of interceptions.
Virginia coach Tony Elliott said Armstrong is trying to do much at times and needs others to come along, but Armstrong said that wasn’t the problem.
“I don’t really feel like I’m trying to play outside the offense, but I mean I’m just making mistakes also with trying to play and make plays,” he said.
Virginia led 10-0 and had the crowd roaring when the fumble was lost.
“That was really huge right there because if they were to score, it would have been 17-0,” Griffin said. He also had one of the Cardinals’ two interceptions.
Trevion Cooley and Jahwar Jordan ran for touchdowns for Louisville, with Jordan’s making it 34-17 with 11:03 left and sending fans streaming out.
Those who stayed saw Mike Hollins stopped on a fourth-and-1 try from the Cardinals’ 5 with just over 8 minutes left on a call that was initially ruled a first down, but overturned on review, all but sealing Virginia’s loss.
The road victory surely helped Cardinals coach Scott Satterfield, rumored to be on the hot seat. The victory also ended a remarkable nine-game losing streak for Louisville in games they led or at least tied in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know about me. I do know they showed up and supported Brock,” Satterfield said, praising how the offense and defense both got better.
Virginia finished with six rushing yards.
THE TAKEAWAY
Louisville: With two weeks to get Cunningham back, the Cardinals at least don’t have to worry about Domann. He overcame his slow start, completed many clutch passes and may have surprised himself with the long TD run.
Virginia: The Cavaliers continually made things hard of themselves in key spots. Armstrong’s fumble at the Louisville 18 came with them ahead 10-0 and driving for a third consecutive score. Sure-handed Keytaon Thompson had two drops in three plays to kill their ensuing drive, and with the Cardinals going backwards on penalties, Anthony Johnson’s pass interference call in the end zone gave them a first-and-goal at the 2. Cooley ran it in from there.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals have a week off, then are at home against Pittsburgh.
Virginia has a week off, then plays at Georgia Tech on a Thursday night.
On October 8, 2022 at approximately 10:30 a.m., Roanoke Police were notified by the City of Roanoke E-911 Center of a person with a gunshot wound in the 2700 block of Hoover Street NW. The caller advised they were transporting a juvenile male to LewisGale Medical Center for treatment of a critical gunshot wound. As officers arrived at the Hoover Street NW scene, LewisGale Medical Center staff advised the victim had arrived. The victim was stabilized, then transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Ultimately, the juvenile male succumbed to his injuries and passed away.
Details about what led to this shooting are limited at this time. This remains an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call (540)344-8500 and share what you know. You can also text us at 274637; please begin the text with “RoanokePD” to ensure it’s properly sent. Both calls and texts can remain anonymous.
FINCASTLE, VA – On October 8, 2022, at 7:02 a.m. the Botetourt County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from a citizen reporting an unresponsive female lying on the ground in the 22,000 block of Botetourt Road.
Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office Deputies arrived on the scene to find an apparent deceased female lying in a gravel lot. Detectives are currently examining the scene. We are in the preliminary stages of this investigation and as more information becomes available, we will provide updates.
This incident appears to be isolated with no threat to the public.