Crime and Public Safety

(From Roanoke PD) On August 27, 2021 at approximately 11:30 a.m., Roanoke Police were notified a person with a gunshot wound in the 900 block of Kellogg Avenue NW. Responding officers located an adult male victim with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries. Roanoke Fire-EMS transported the man to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for treatment. Details are limited at this time, but no suspects were located and no arrests have been made regarding this incident.

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.

From Salem Fire & EMS Facebook Page

The Salem Fire & EMS Department responded to a structure fire at 1434 Azalea St. this evening at approximately 7:38 p.m. The home sustained heavy fire and smoke damage throughout, but the two residents, who were home at the time of the fire,were able to escape without injury. The first units arrived within two minutes of receiving the call and found heavy smoke coming from the structure. Initially, crews found heavy fire on the first floor. At one point, the fire did extend through the roof forcing the interior crews to withdraw while personnel extinguished the attic fire. Crews returned inside and the fire was brought under control within thirty minutes of the arrival of the first truck. Approximately 22 personnel from the Salem Fire & EMS Department (Truck 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Medic 801, Medic 802, Medic 803, Battalion 1 & Fire Medic 1) and the Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Department (Wagon 9) responded to the call. Roanoke Fire & EMS Department responded to several other City of Salem incidents, while crews were assigned to the fire. The Salem Fire Marshal’s Office is currently investigating the fire and neither a cause nor a damage estimate has been established. Four occupants of the home were displaced and are staying with family.

Ross Arkell

UPDATE: Officials report Mr. Arkell has been safely located.

PREVIOUS: Penhook, Virginia (August 25, 2021) – The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing adult with dementia.

Ross Arkell (white male / 86 years of age) was reported missing by a family member just before midnight on Tuesday, August 24th after he walked from his residence in the Bay Front Road/Water’s Edge Country Club area of Penhook, Virginia.

Mr. Arkell was last seen wearing a dark brown shirt, green sweater, brown hat, khaki pants and brown shoes. He is approximately 6 foot in height and 130 pounds.

If anyone locates Mr. Arkell, or has any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office immediately at 540-483-3000.

 

On August 24, 2021 at approximately 2:00 a.m., Roanoke Police were notified of a person with a gunshot wound in the 3500 block of Williamson Road NW. Officers located an adult male in the parking lot of a business in the area with what appeared to be serious injuries. Roanoke Fire-EMS transported the man to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for treatment. Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred in the 3100 block of Williamson Road NW. It appears that the male victim self transported to
the 3500 block of Williamson Road NW before officers arrived on scene. No suspects were located and no arrests have been made at this time. This is an ongoing investigation.

Virginia’s first gun buyback event is tomorrow in Roanoke. WFIR’s Ian Price has details:

Roanoke NAACP Chapter President Brenda Hale helped organize the event. She says the “Groceries Not Guns” event tomorrow in Roanoke is an effort to get unused guns out of homes before they fall into the wrong hands. Hale cited several recent local shootings that she says could have been avoided.

You can hear our full interview with organizers Catherine Koebel and Brenda Hale this morning about the “Groceries Not Guns” event below.

MGN

NEWS RELEASE: A Fries, Va. man faces multiple charges following a series of incidents in Grayson County late Friday (Aug. 13, 2021). Brandon A. Goad, 29,  has been charged with six counts of assault and battery of a family member, four counts of brandishing a firearm, two counts of child endangerment, one misdemeanor count of hit-and-run and resisting arrest in Grayson County. He faces one felony count of eluding police in Carroll County. He is being held at New River Valley Regional Jail.

Shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, Virginia State Police responded to a convenience store in the 1900 block of Ivanhoe Road in Fries. The investigating trooper determined that Goad was intentionally running his vehicle into another vehicle in the parking lot at that location in relation to a domestic situation. Inside the vehicle that was struck was an adult female and two young children. No injuries were reported.
Goad fled the scene before state police could arrive. State police received information on Goad’s new location and as they were en route to that location, Goad returned to the convenience store armed with a rifle. After brandishing the firearm while at the store, he fled the scene a second time. A state police trooper spotted Goad in Carroll County and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but Goad refused to stop and sped away at a high rate of speed.
Additional state police troopers and the Grayson County Sheriff’s Deputies located Goad at a residence in the 9500 block of Spring Valley Road in Fries. As Goad was driving away from the residence, he shot at the Grayson County Sheriff’s Deputies. One of the deputies returned fire. Goad fled the scene in his vehicle.
Minutes later a citizen alerted troopers of a single-vehicle traffic crash in the 100 block of Providence Road in Fries. The crashed vehicle matched the description of Goad’s vehicle. State police responded to the scene and located Goad in the roadway. As troopers approached him to take him into custody, Goad refused to comply and struggled with the troopers.
Goad was transported to Twin County Regional Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash.
At the request of the Grayson County Sheriff, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Wytheville Field Office is investigating the deputy’s discharge of his firearm. No law enforcement was injured in that incident; nor was Goad.
The series of incidents remain under investigation.

TSA photo

It has happened again. The TSA found a loaded handgun today inside a passenger’s carry-on bag at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. Officials say the woman bringing the gun was cited on weapons charges. By the TSA’s count, this is the 17th time in the past five years its Roanoke screeners have detected a handgun a passenger had in carry-on bags.

NEWS RELEASE: ROANOKE, Va. – Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Roanoke resident from carrying her 9mm handgun onto an airplane at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport on Wednesday, August 12. The handgun was loaded with seven bullets, including one in the chamber.

TSA officials detected the gun in the woman’s carry-on bag. They immediately alerted the airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the weapon and cited the woman on weapons charges.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.

TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.

When an individual shows up at a checkpoint with a firearm, the checkpoint lane comes to a standstill until the police resolve the incident. Guns at checkpoints can delay travelers from getting to their gates.

TSA Firearms Caught at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport checkpoints, 2017 to 2021

Year 2017 2018 2019 2020* 2021*
Guns caught  3 6  5 1 2

*Significantly fewer passengers than previous years due to the pandemic.

Nationwide, TSA officers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019.  Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.

Photo: Roanoke PD

A Roanoke man is charged with shooting a woman inside a northwest Roanoke home. City Police say the victim’s injuries appear to be critical. It happened Wednesday night in the 1200 block of 13th Street NW. officials say 28-year-old Percy Johnson of Roanoke was arrested nearby a short time later. The victim’s name has not been released.

NEWS RELEASE: On August 11, 2021 at approximately 10:45 p.m., Roanoke Police were notified of a person with a gunshot wound in the 1200 block of 13th Street NW. Responding officers located an adult female victim inside a residence in the area with what appeared to be critical injuries. Roanoke Fire-EMS transported the woman to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital for treatment. After clearing the residence where the offense occurred, Officers received information that the suspect might still be in the immediate area. A perimeter was set and officers began searching for the suspect. A short time later, Officers located a person matching the description of the suspect in the 1400 block of Grayson Avenue NW. That person was positively identified as the suspect and taken into custody without issue.

Percy Johnson, 28 of Roanoke, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding regarding this incident. This remains an ongoing investigation and no other information is available regarding this incident at this time.

Lynchburg officials spoke this morning about inmate barricade in one housing unit overnight at the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center. It ended peacefully around 8am today. No word on the cause just yet although some social media posts described poor living conditions and lock downs due to short staffing. Josh Salmon is the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Administrator; no inmate or correctional officer was seriously hurt. Salmon did say there was damage to camera security systems, offices and windows. Lynchburg police called on regional and state law enforcement agencies for assistance during the standoff.