County police investigate killing, robbery and missing man

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: October 1, 2008

One man is dead and two others wounded after a disagreement escalated into a shooting late Tuesday on Commonwealth Drive, according to Albemarle County police.

The shooting capped an already busy day for county police that included an unrelated robbery at the Barracks Road Market on Barracks Road and a search for a missing 49-year-old man in the mountain woods near White Hall.

Officials said officers were called to an apartment in the 2200 block of Commonwealth Drive around 11:20 p.m. after neighbors heard gunshots and found one man fatally shot and two others injured. They have not released the slain man’s name nor the names of the injured, pending notification of family. The two men are being treated at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Investigators say the incident apparently occurred after a man visited the apartment and a fight began, leading to shots being fired. The man then fled the area on foot.

Police are looking for a white man, about six feet tall, in his mid-20s with shoulder-length blond hair. He was last seen wearing a “hoodie”-style sweatshirt.

About two hours earlier, police responded to a robbery at the Barracks Road Market at 2613 Barracks Road after employees reported being held up at gunpoint by a black man in his early 20s, about 5-foot, 10-inches tall and wearing a “hoodie”-style sweatshirt. No one was injured and the man got away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Throughout much of the day on Tuesday, county police were kept busy in a mountain search for Earl Franklin Funk, 49, of Staunton, who disappeared into the woods while visiting some friends at a White Hall cabin.

Funk apparently walked into the woods around 1 p.m. on Monday and was reported missing after he didn’t return Tuesday. Police are continuing the search today with help from the county sheriff’s office, Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Park Service, the Western Albemarle Rescue Squad and a helicopter from the Virginia State Police.

The search was suspended Tuesday night because of darkness and is expected to begin again this morning.