Thread: West Virginia: Man Held in Sheriff’s Killing

West Virginia: Man Held in Sheriff’s Killing

By TRIP GABRIEL
Published: April 3, 2013

A county sheriff was fatally shot in rural West Virginia on Wednesday, and a fleeing suspect was arrested after being shot by a deputy. The authorities said that Sheriff Eugene Crum of Mingo County died after an assailant fired on him in his car in Williamson. Tennis M. Maynard, 37, was arrested after a brief pursuit in which he lost control of his vehicle, stepped out with a weapon and was shot several times, said Sgt. M. T. Baylous of the West Virginia State Police. Mr. Maynard remained alert enough to speak as he was flown to a hospital, and the police are investigating a motive, Sergeant Baylous said. Sheriff Crum, sworn in Jan. 1 after serving as a local magistrate, was known especially for targeting drug dealers, the authorities said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/us...ling.html?_r=0

ABC News See realtime coverage

West Virginia Sheriff Shot and Killed Outside Courthouse ABC News 58 minutes ago Written by Russell Goldman Share. 0. A West Virginia sheriff with a reputation for cracking down on drug dealers was shot in the head at point blank range and killed outside a county courthouse today, officials and witnesses said.

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Source: Sheriff slaying suspect's mental health history was not in database

By Susan Candiotti. Ross Levitt and Todd Sperry, CNN
updated 9:39 PM EDT, Wed April 10, 2013



WV sheriff shooting suspect in custody




STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• W. Virginia officials didn't update a background check database in time, prosecutor says
• The "inexcusable delay" allowed suspect to buy a gun, prosecutor says
• Once updated, database stopped a second gun purchase by Tennis Melvin Maynard
• Maynard is accused of killing West Virginia Sheriff Walter E. "Eugene" Crum

(CNN) -- Ten months after being released from a mental institution, the suspect in the slaying of a West Virginia sheriff was able to purchase a gun that authorities say was used in the crime because his mental health information was not entered in to a federal database, a source with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN.
Tennis Maynard, 37, has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Sheriff Walter E. "Eugene" Crum and with attempted murder after he allegedly pointed a gun at a sheriff's deputy who chased him. His family admitted him to a mental hospital in February 2010, according the source. That would have disqualified him from buying a firearm or even being in the presence of guns, authorities say.
But in December 2010, Maynard was able to purchase a .40-caliber handgun at a licensed gun dealer in neighboring Logan County, according to the same source, despite a required, computerized background check.
According to Mingo County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Sparks, Maynard's mental health record should have been entered into the National Instant Check System. It wasn't, he said.
Sparks said there was an 'inexcusable delay' in relaying information from the state to the federal background check database. Sparks stressed that the firearm dealer who sold the handgun to Maynard did "what was legally required" under the law and performed a background check.
Compromise sets up likely Senate debate on gun laws
Maynard tried to buy another firearm, but that attempt failed when the same computerized system flagged him as ineligible, Sparks said. It's unclear where and when Maynard tried to purchase the second firearm.


Widow sworn in as sheriff
It's also unknown how many guns were seized from Maynard's home where he lived with his parents and how many belonged to Maynard.
Maynard's mother, Olgie Maynard, previously told CNN that her daughter signed the paperwork to admit Tennis Maynard to a hospital and that he was there for about a week in 2010. She says her son "went crazy" in their yard. The family called police, and he was taken to a hospital. He also has been a patient at a local mental health clinic, she says.
Booth Goodwin, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, told CNN that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is continuing its investigation of Maynard's gun history. Goodwin has not yet decided whether to prosecute Maynard on federal weapons charges and declined to comment further.
Maynard is accused of killing Crum on April 3 as he sat in his truck just blocks from the county courthouse. The suspect parked his car close to the sheriff's SUV and shot through the window twice, hitting the sheriff twice in the head, according to a state official who was briefed on the investigation. After a brief chase, Maynard was shot and wounded by a sheriff's deputy in Delbarton, West Virginia, after he wrecked the vehicle he was driving and raised his weapon.
Sparks said the shooter used a Glock .40-caliber handgun to kill the sheriff. Investigators don't yet have a motive.
Maynard is alleged to have made a statement shortly after he was shot, but authorities won't reveal what he said, saying only that it "could have been interpreted in different ways."
Williamson Police Chief Dave Rockel says authorities later spoke to Maynard at his bedside last week, but the suspect was too medicated to make a lucid statement.
Crum's daughter said "it's a strong possibility" that her father was killed for vigorously pursuing the illicit drug trade. Crum had taken office only three months before his killing but already had built a reputation for taking out dealers and shutting down "pill mills."
"My dad fought tirelessly against drug abuse. He just wanted to clean up the county and make it a better place to live," Julie Hall told CNN.
"Things are still under investigation at this time. We really are unsure," Hall said. Crum's funeral was Sunday. His wife, Rosie, was appointed last week to complete his term, which runs through the end of next year.
Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI in 1998, the NICS is used by federal firearms licensees to determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives.
The reliability of the NICS system has been a point of contention in the debate on gun violence.
A deal reached by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, aims to tackle issues some have with the current background check reporting methods. The Manchin-Toomey compromise would require states and the federal government to provide records on criminals and the "violently mentally ill" to the national background check system, addressing a criticism by the NRA and other opponents of gun laws that the existing system lacks substantive information.
　
　
　
　
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