It was a nearly yearlong dispute over a piece of ancestral property that put Krystal Frazier and Tommy Forbes on a collision course that left Frazier fighting for her life and Forbes facing a criminal charge after what police describe as a struggle for a loaded gun.
According to files in Albemarle County General District Court, where he has been charged with felony reckless gun handling over the late June incident, the 61-year-old Forbes drew a firearm after his wife and Frazier began fighting.
“At this point, Frazier attempts to grab the gun from Forbes and it discharges,” wrote Albemarle police detective Nic Richardson. “The bullet struck Frazier in the head.”
The slug entered the left side of Frazier’s face and exited the right, according to Richardson’s report, which noted that Frazier was airlifted to University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
“She is in ICU fighting for her life,” according to a GoFundMe appeal for the 35-year-old Free Union woman. “She has lost her left eye and is fighting pneumonia.”
According to the investigator’s report, the dispute centered around a property in the 3200 block of Boonesville Road, a rural area of northern Albemarle near the Greene County line. The parcel contains a circa-1800 farmhouse and barn and has had a changing roster of owners over the years, including Thomas Guy Forbes and his wife Deborah three times in the past two years, according to county property records.
“Forbes and Frazier have had an ongoing issue,” wrote the investigator, “for nearly a year.”
The county tax maps show that the Forbeses own multiple parcels surrounding the Boonesville tract where the conflict escalated shortly before 8 a.m. on June 23.
“During the course of this current conversation it turned into a verbal disorder, then a physical disorder between Frazier and Deborah Forbes,” Richardson wrote.
The detective found various witnesses willing to speak about what happened, including Thomas Forbes.
“He confirmed that he did have a revolver in his hand, he cocked the weapon, and his finger was on the trigger,” Richardson wrote. “However, [he] claims the discharge of the weapon was an accident due to [Frazier] going for the gun.”
Thomas Forbes’ lawyer, Scott Goodman, goes further.
“Mr. Forbes did not intend to shoot anyone,” Goodman told The Daily Progress. “He was attacked.”
Goodman said that Frazier and Forbes have a common ancestor and that the disputed property remains in the family with multiple owners. Goodman said that Forbes feels sad for Frazier and hopes that she makes a full and speedy recovery.
“Everybody feels horribly about it,” said Goodman. “It’s a family tragedy.”
Reckless firearm handling which results in serious injury can bring a jail term of up to five years. Forbes has been held without bail at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail pending an Aug. 1 hearing. A county representative indicates that the investigation is continuing.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com