By Duncan Adams | The Roanoke Times
Posted: 9:04 a.m. | Updated: 5:28 p.m.
A man and woman whose bodies were found this morning in the Clearbrook area of Roanoke County appeared to have died as a result of a murder-suicide, county police said.
Police identified the shooter as George Kenneth Whitt, 30, who lived a few blocks from where the bodies were found. The female victim, 33, was not identified, pending notification of relatives, police said.
Police received a call about 6:15 a.m today reporting a sighting of the bodies. A handgun was found at the crime scene, which was within several paces of the intersection of Franklin Road (U.S. 220 South) and Indian Grave Road and not far from the parking lot for Lewis-Gale Family Care Center. The two bodies lay in the grass.
Whitt and the victim were acquainted and, "for reasons not yet determined, that Whitt shot the female victim with a handgun before turning the weapon on himself," Roanoke County Detective Keshia Saul said in a statement today.
Police said Whitt had been living at a house a few blocks away and believe the two had walked to the intersection where the crime occurred.
Neither victim worked at the center or were patients there, according to police and Joy Sutton, a spokeswoman for Lewis-Gale and HCA Southwest Virginia.
Roanoke County fire and rescue personnel and police surrounded the murder scene with a tight perimeter of tall, heavy-gauge plastic to obscure the site from children bound this morning for nearby Clearbook Elementary School and from others driving by.
"The buses come right by here," said Lt. Chuck Mason, a spokesman for the county police department. "We don’t usually have to do this."
Strong breezes billowed the plastic and police officers and detectives took turns holding the sheeting above their heads.
Roanoke County School officials said a lockdown was not initiated at Clearbrook Elementary. The crime occurred before the start of the school day.
Administrators issued an automated phone message around 8 a.m. to notify parents of an incident near the school. Division spokesman Chuck Lionberger said school officials wanted to alert parents because of the heavy police presence adjacent to the school.
Police asked that anyone with information about the crime to call Detective Saul at 540-777-8628.
Staff writer Courtney Cutright contributed to this report
No comments:
Post a Comment