ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Richmond Times Dispatch
23August2010 9:03amEDT
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Louisa, Va. - A family dispute turned deadly in Louisa County yesterday when a man opened fire in a rural neighborhood, killing two men and critically wounding four other people before turning his gun on police and being fatally wounded by officers.
Sources familiar with the shooting and family members identified the gunman as Charles "Zeke" Sponaugle, who was in his mid-50s. Police did not immediately release the names of the dead or wounded.
Police said they had been called to the house earlier in the day, but that incident was described as minor and resolved.
The violence took place about 5 p.m. at a series of interconnected mobile homes near Kents Mill Road and Twigg Drive, about 200 yards down a dirt road and several miles northwest of the town of Louisa.
Louisa sheriff's Maj. Donnie Lowe said the gunman, whom Lowe described only as an adult white male, began shooting after what Lowe described as a dispute over property and belongings at a home.
Lowe said that when officers and a police dog arrived, the man began firing at police and unleashed his pit bull.
Officers returned fire, fatally wounding the man and the dog. None of the officers was injured, Lowe said.
Two men died, and four other people, including at least one woman, were shot and injured. The injured victims were transported to University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Lowe said, and one had life-threatening injuries.
Because the sheriff's office was involved in the shooting, Virginia State Police are assisting in the investigation. "It appears that this is all a family-related matter," said Sgt. Thomas Molnar, state police spokesman.
