Shell casings from car match those found on and near I-64, state police say

Shell casings from Slade Allen Woodson's 1974 AMC Gremlin match ballistics recovered from Thursday's early-morning shootings on and near Interstate 64, the Virginia State Police said Saturday.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which conducted the tests, also matched the casings to a Ruger .22-caliber magnum rifle that investigators recovered during a raid early Friday morning at Yonder Hill Farm in western Albemarle County. During that raid, a member of the Albemarle County Tactical Unit shot one man, whom police have not identified. The man reportedly had a handgun. He was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center and was reported later Friday to be in stable condition.

Woodson, 19, and an unidentified 16-year-old Crozet juvenile were taken into custody during the raid, something police say ends the hunt for those responsible for shootings on and around I-64, which initially reminded many of the Washington-area sniper shootings six years ago.

Woodson, of Afton, and the juvenile were both charged with eight felony counts in connection with the sniper fire on Interstate 64 from the Route 690 overpass. Bullets struck four occupied vehicles in the highway's westbound lanes and two drivers suffered minor injuries from the gunfire.

Police charges include two counts of malicious wounding, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, and four counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle.

In a separate but seemingly related incident, Waynesboro police charged Woodson in connection with a shooting there, accusing him of shooting out the rear window of a parked car from his AMC Gremlin at the DuPont Community Credit Union on Lucy Lane on the same night of the I-64 shooting. A bank security camera caught two people in a car similar to Woodson's AMC Gremlin firing a gun.

Altogether, police believe that Woodson and the juvenile fired upon six vehicles, including a van, a tractor-trailer, two cars and an unoccupied Virginia Department of Transportation dump truck.

All told, if convicted, Woodson could face more than 100 years in prison and a fine of more than $200,000. The juvenile could receive a maximum jail sentence of more than 90 years and a fine of up to $200,000.

Those who know Woodson describe him as a quiet young man whose actions and run-ins with police have seemingly clashed with his personality.

On Saturday, Justin Birckhead, a recent graduate of Western Albemarle High School, where Woodson once was a student, said he knew him as a "laid back, really cool" person whom he liked to hang out with. He said he noticed a change when Woodson's girlfriend broke up with him at the middle to end of last year. Woodson's MySpace page portrays a broken young man who revels in his country heritage.

"After that, he started going downhill," Birckhead said of the breakup. He said before the I-64 incident, Woodson was known for stealing a truck and setting it ablaze. Woodson was charged in January 2007 with two felony counts of auto theft and two felony counts of arson, but pleaded guilty to reduced charges and spent six months in jail.

"They weren't surprised at it at all," Birckhead said of the response by Woodson's friends to the shootings, given the incident with the truck. "They could see him doing something like this."

Norman Carter, a photographer with the Waynesboro News Virginian, said he has known the Woodson family for 20 years and has shared a neighborhood with them for the last eight or nine, according to an article in that paper. His son recently married one of Slade Woodson's older sisters. His relationship with Woodson was always cordial, he said in the article, until Woodson allegedly stole his truck, set it ablaze, and left it smoldering on a roadside.

"I was angry before I found out who it was," Carter said. "After I found out who it was, I was also somewhat bewildered and dismayed, because I would have never suspected that of Slade."

While out on bail, Woodson apparently attempted to make amends for his crime in a heartfelt note he left in Carter's mailbox.

"He apologized for what he had done, for the inconvenience that he had caused, and let me know that it was nothing personal," Carter said.

Woodson is being held at the Middle River Regional Jail, in Verona. The juvenile is being held at the Blue Ridge Detention Center in Albemarle County.

Jeremy Borden is a staff writer for the Daily Progress in Charlottesville. Daily Progress reporter Scott Shenk contributed to this story.