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I have been holding a few stories, waiting to see if more details emerge. Two of the stories deal with Virginia CHP holders breaking the law and one story with an ex-Virginia Deputy Sheriff doing so.
Of course such stories anger and sadden CHP holders and police. None of us want our reputations sullied by such individuals. The press won't point this out, but I will: during that week 250,000 Virginia CHP holders and 30,000 Virginia LEOs did absolutely nothing wrong.
Laws were broken by three individuals. The accused (that are alive) will get their day in court to attempt to prove their innocence, and hopefully justice will be served one way or the other. However, punishing the innocent by restricting the innocent's rights based on the misdeeds of others makes no sense and is not what America is about.
There are over a quarter of a million CHP holders in Virginia and over six million CHP holders in the US. With numbers that large, there are going to be a few "bad eggs" who will, on a rare occasion, either be negligent or commit a violent crime.
There are a lot of police and they, too, have some problems from time to time.
The first story dealing with a CHP holder happened in the Lynchburg area. According to story #1, below , the CHP holder was carrying concealed in a restaurant posted "No guns" on the door. So, the CHP holder started his evening out by trespassing, a Class 1 misdemeanor. It is possible he missed the sign, of course. He most probably wouldn't have been charged with actual trespass unless he was notified verbally and refused to leave. Next, the CHP holder was drinking while carrying concealed according to the article. That is a no-no for a CHP holder and is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Last, while not illegal, he apparently had his handgun in his pocket WITHOUT a holster. The gun went off while he was reaching in his pocket for something - probably money as he was in the act of paying for a beer when the gun went off.
If someone had to be shot that night due to an improperly carried firearm, the good news is it was the CHP holder and not an innocent bystander.
Wayne Latham is charged with reckless handling of a firearm (reasonable), willfully discharging a firearm in the city of Lynchburg (I don't think he discharged that gun into his leg willfully), and carrying a concealed handgun while consuming an alcoholic beverage (reasonable). Sounds like he was sober, as he was not charged with being drunk in public.
The laws worked as intended, with law enforcement arresting and charging him. He will have his day in court and we will see how it turns out.
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Story #2, below, is about a Virginia CHP holder who was unlawfully carrying concealed in Maryland at the Johns Hopkins hospital, and in what appears to be a moment of extreme grief over his mother's diagnosis, shot the attending doctor and later shot his mother and then himself.
The doctor will survive, but the CHP holder and his mother are dead. It is unfortunate that the doctor was not allowed to be armed and able to defend himself.
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Story #3, below, is about a former Alexandria city deputy sheriff that murdered a man because that man had the audacity to have a speed bump installed on the street in front of his house.
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Story #1
Forest man charged after accidentally shooting self in restaurant
By Nolan Connelly
A Forest man who accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a concealed firearm Saturday night inside Waterstone Pizza on Jefferson Street has been charged with three misdemeanors.
A Forest man who accidentally shot himself in the thigh with a concealed firearm Saturday night inside Waterstone Pizza on Jefferson Street has been charged with three misdemeanors.
Wayne Meredith Latham, 56, was charged with recklessly handling a firearm, willfully discharging a firearm in the city and carrying a concealed handgun in a restaurant after consuming alcohol.
Officer Mario Graves said that Latham did have a concealed weapon permit but officers believe he had been consuming alcohol.
Graves said patrons with a concealed firearm in a restaurant are not allowed to consume alcohol.
Latham had concealed the gun in his front pant pocket and accidentally discharged it, Graves said, after reaching into his pocket.
“We’re not exactly sure why,” he said.
Latham was found about one block east of the restaurant, where police detained him until medics transported him to Lynchburg General Hospital.
“Apparently he had gotten scared and left the restaurant,” Graves said.
He added, “He was very cooperative…I think he was more embarrassed, ashamed than anything else.” [PVC: And so he should be.]
Latham was transported to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. He was released at 8:30 p.m that night.
Graves said the investigation is still ongoing and could not say if anyone else in the restaurant had been injured.
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Story #2
[SNIP]
Hopkins shooter used alias, lived in Va.
Baltimore police have now tentatively identified a man who shot a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital as 50-year-old Paul Warren Pardus of Arlington.
Police say Pardus apparently used an alias. They say hospital officials knew him as Warren Davis. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says detectives are awaiting fingerprint analysis from the FBI to confirm his identity.
Police say his mother's name is still believed to be Jean Davis.
According to police, Pardus became distraught as a doctor briefed on his mother's condition. Pardus shot the doctor, then shot and killed his mother and himself in her hospital room. The doctor was shot in the abdomen but is expected to survive.
Pardus has a handgun permit in Virginia. [PVC: It deals with guns, so the Washington Post gets it wrong. We don't need a permit to own, possess, purchase, or openly carry a handgun in Virginia. The only permit we have is to carry a handgun concealed.]
[END SNIP]
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Story #3
Revolver seized in speed-hump killing
The backpack taken from a man accused of killing a Fairfax County man over a speed hump Sunday night contained a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver with one shot fired, court records filed Wednesday showed.
Stephen A. Carr, 48, worked with county officials to slow traffic on Field Master Drive in the Springfield area, and earlier this year a speed hump was installed in front of his house.
In June, David A. Patton, 44, physically confronted Carr about the speed-hump, neighbors said, and was later charged with assault.
On Sunday night, witnesses told police that Patton broke into Carr's house as he watched television, used plastic ties to bind Carr and his girlfriend, and then fatally shot Carr when he tried to free himself from the bindings.
The girlfriend was eventually able to call police. Officers arrived and arrested Patton in Carr's backyard, and seized Patton's backpack.
In a search warrant return filed in Fairfax Circuit Court on Wednesday, crime scene Detective Michael S. Lamper Sr. wrote that he had found three "large heavy duty black wire zip ties," some duct tape, a pack of unopened rubber gloves, and a Smith & Wesson model 15-3 revolver, with five loaded rounds and one expended cartridge case.
The Smith & Wesson 15-3 is a classic six-shot revolver, widely used by law enforcement officers until the 1990s, when many departments switched to higher-capacity semiautomatic pistols.
Patton, who is charged with second-degree murder and is being held in the Fairfax jail without bond, is a former Alexandria City sheriff's deputy. Alexandria Undersheriff Tony Davis said Patton worked in the sheriff's office from 1990 to 1992, but could not say why he left the office.
Police seized a "deputy badge" from Patton's townhouse on Conservation Way, around the corner from Carr's house, Monday morning. Davis said employees are required to return all equipment when they leave the sheriff's office, but that it was possible that Patton bought and kept a spare badge while he worked for the sheriff’s office.
Davis said Patton would have had to return any firearms issued by the sheriff's office, and that there was virtually no chance that his service revolver was used 18 years later in a homicide.
Patton is due in court Thursday morning for the alleged assault on Carr in June. It was not clear Wednesday how prosecutors would proceed with that case.