Police arrest 1, shoot 1 during sniper probe

CHARLOTTESVILLE - One person was arrested today and another was shot as police searched an Albemarle County house during their investigation of Thursday's Interstate 64 shootings.

Authorities said Slade Woodson, 19, of Afton was taken into custody this morning as police executed a search warrant just west of Crozet. Woodson was charged with two felonies related to shootings Thursday in Waynesboro but was not charged in relation to the I-64 shootings that injured two motorists.

Virginia State Police Sperintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty said Woodson was being interviewed late this morning by authorities at the Albemarle County Sheriff's Department.

"Woodson is considered a suspect in the Interstate 64 shootings," Flaherty said.

Woodson was one of five people in the house where police executed the warrant, and Flaherty said one of the other people was armed and confronted officers, who shot him. The person, whose identity was not immediately released, was being treated at a hospital, said Flaherty, who did not elaborate on his condition.

Woodson was charged on Waynesboro warrants, on one felony count of shooting into an occupied building and one of destruction of public property. Police said the charges stemmed from a shooting at the DuPont Community Credit Union in Waynesboro early Thursday.

Flaherty said Woodson is the owner of an orange 1974 AMC Gremlin that police believe may have been used in the I-64 shootings. Two shooters fired bullets randomly at passing cars along the I-64 corridor near Crozet, leaving two people with minor injuries.

Flaherty also said police believe others were involved in the I-64 shootings.

"We have not identified any additional suspects at this time," he said.

The house where Woodson was arrested and the other person was shot is a small, one-story, clapboard structure is part of a horse farm named Yonder Hill Farm. The farm includes a hay barn and horse barn.

State police troopers spent several hours today processing evidence at the house, which was surrounded by yellow crime-scene tape.

Flaherty said police were unsure if Woodson lived at the house or was just visiting at the time of his arrest.

Carlos Santos is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Cleve Wiese is a staff writer for The News Virginian.