Bedford County deputies seize multiple guns at checkpoints

BEDFORD COUNTY (WSLS 10) - The Bedford County Sheriff's Office wanted potential criminals to know they see them, so nearly 30 deputies, troopers and ABC agents made their presence known last weekend.

Two Bedford County deputies had a car stopped at the intersection of Graves Mill Road and Vista Centre Drive on Friday night.

"While they were out talking to the people who was in the car, they heard five gunshots ring out from the restaurant," said Major Rick Gardner with the sheriff's office.

Gardner said there were so many people running to their cars, outside The Hill, that those deputies had trouble getting through the crowd.

"Once they were able to get in the parking lot, they found five 9-mm cartridge casings near the front door in the parking lot on the sidewalk," continued Gardner.

Gardner said a DJ from Atlanta had attracted party goers from as close as Lynchburg and as far away as Roanoke, Danville and Greensboro.

That same DJ was scheduled to spin there again the next night. The sheriff's office thought that same crowd would have the same problems and the potential for retaliation.

"Friday night prior to the gunshots, they did see several individuals in the parking lot flashing gang signs and having clothing on that indicated that they were possibly members of gangs in which again disturbed us immensely," said Gardner.

Enough to set up a checkpoint on Saturday, netting seven drug arrests. The sheriff's office seized three 9-mm handguns no one wanted to claim.

The crowd size was a tenth of what it was the night before, after word got out on social media the cops were there, according to the sheriff's office.

Gardner doesn't know if they stayed home or kept on to somewhere else, but he does know that they don't want the trouble here.

The sheriff's office said it was upfront with Lake Vista neighbors who asked what was going on when they were stopped.

The office also sent out an alert to people living in the area.

If you live anywhere in Bedford County, you can sign up to get alerts on your home or cell phone through the sheriff's office website.