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Neighbors shocked by officer-involved shooting in Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – Not a lot of information has come out since the shooting but I went around and talked to neighbors and an expert about everything that happened on September 20th.

At around 2:00 Friday afternoon, 911 dispatchers received a call of a suspicious person near Viewland Circle in the Mud Pike area of Montgomery County

When officers arrived, the person allegedly had a knife and ran from the scene.

When police found the person, the person allegedly pointed something at the officers and they shot and killed them.

I went around the Viewland Circle neighborhood to talk to folks about everything and they all told me it is a quiet neighborhood, so this was a surprise.

“A lot of these neighbors are on the older side of things,” said John Hull, who lives in the neighborhood. “It makes you wonder who they are after. What that guy was doing over here, really, that was the biggest question we still kind of have.”

One neighbor said she was shocked it happened practically in her backyard

“It was really scary because, my dad was home alone,” said Lisa Lawson. “I think that terrified me more than anything that something could have happened to him. We’ve been out here, about 20 years and nothing like that has ever happened around here.”

I also talked to criminologist and former police officer Dr. Tod Burke about officer involved shootings.

He said for an officer to use lethal force, there has to be immediate danger posed to the officers.

“It is something that is happening instantaneously, at that time, and was the office, or officers in danger, or are there people in danger,” said Dr. Burke.

He said in the Virginia State Police investigation, they will look at surveillance footage, body cams and other details to determine whether the killing was justified.

I reached out to Virginia State Police for any additional information.

They said they are still working to identify the person killed and should have it soon.

We also have the latest statistics on officer-involved shootings in our area here.


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About the Author
Thomas Mundy headshot

Thomas grew up right here in Roanoke and is a graduate of Salem High School and Virginia Tech.