By Dan McDermott
The Lynchburg Times
A suspect was being sought May 26 following a 911 call to the Bedford Sheriff’s office that a man had been shot outside his Forest home.
Marshall Patterson, 20, called authorities at 1:35 p.m. and said he had been shot at 1591 Mays Mill Rd. When deputies arrived they found Patterson lying in his driveway. According to a release, Patterson said he was in his yard and a muscular black or hispanic light skinned male believed to be in his 20s wearing blue jean shorts, a black stocking cap and possibly gloves walked out of the woods and shot him with a semi-auto hand gun. Patterson said the suspect ran back into the woods and towards Perrowville Road.
Patterson was transported to Lynchburg General Hospital and was being treated for a gunshot wound to the chest. His condition was unknown.
Sheriff’s deputies used a tracking K-9 in an attempt to locate the suspect and a bomb detection K-9 to possibly locate the weapon used in the shooting. Authorities say both efforts were unsuccessful.
Four nearby schools and Barr Laboratories were put on lock down at 2 p.m. Jefferson Forest High School, Forest Elementary School, Forest Middle School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School were taken off lock down at approximately 3:30 p.m.
At a press conference at a nearby Food Lion, Sheriff Brown said this kind of incident shows the value of his department’s school resource officers. State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms assisted in the search and in providing security for schools.
At a press conference Brown said the following:
- Authorities were providing extra security for afternoon school activities.
- It was not known if the victim knew the suspect.
- The suspect was on foot.
- There was a considerable amount of blood at the scene.
- The victim was not previously known to the sheriff.
- The suspect fled east on foot.
- Dozens of law enforcement officers were currently searching for the suspect.
- People in the area should take common sense precautions like being alert, locking homes and vehicles.
- Parents should be comfortable sending their children to school.
- Authorities in neighboring localities were notified.
Anyone with information on this crime can call the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office at 586-7827 or Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900. Crime stopper callers remain anonymous and may receive a reward up to $1,000.00 for information in the case.
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