Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania announced Thursday that three teenage boys ranging in age from 14 to 17 have been detained in the shooting of two male juveniles on Saturday Oct. 15 near the Omni hotel near the Downtown Mall.
They teens are all in custody at the Blue Ridge Detention Center and face felony charges, according to a press release.
A spokesman for the Charlottesville Police Department on Thursday night said he had no additional information on the detention, including the names of the juveniles.
“I don’t want to compromise the integrity of the investigation,” said public information officer Kyle Ervin.
He also said he had no additional information on the condition of the youth who was shot in late afternoon on the crisp October day, the kind of day that draws kids outside to skateboard or to play in a park. It was also the kind of day that draws hundreds of tourists into town.
Ervin also said he had no information on how the youth obtained the guns, or what type of guns they used, or why they were in the parking lot at that time. He said he did not know what types of shell casings might have been found at the scene.
“Our guys are working on this,” he said.
A CPD officer was the one who radioed in that he had heard shots late Saturday afternoon, about an hour and 15 minutes before the Virginia sun set at 6:29 p.m.
“I just heard a whole lot of shots fired,” an officer can be heard saying on Charlottesville police radio around 5:15 p.m. on the day of the shooting.
Before long, an officer found an injured juvenile.
“He doesn’t know where he’s hit,” the officer exclaimed on police radio. “Just let the rescue know, it’s a 14-year-old male. He’s got a laceration to the face with a possible gunshot to the abdomen.”
Police subsequently revealed that one of the two teens shot was initially in serious condition. Efforts to get an update on that person’s condition Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Platania said in the release that his office would not be commenting about these adjudications until they conclude, but he did voice disapproval of the rise in gun violence both nationally and locally. And he called on the community for vigilance.
“It will take broad community partnerships to turn the tide and stem the violence,” wrote Platania, sounding a warning that age won’t always excuse gunfire.
“If our office identifies individuals who make the choice to arm themselves and hurt others,” he wrote, “they will be arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated—regardless of their age.”
Lynne Anderson contributed to this article.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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