Sniper raid shooting won’t yield charges

By Scott Shenk

Published: June 19, 2008

During the early-morning raid at the Yonder Hill Farm Road home March 28, it was dark. Dogs were barking, and so were the tactical police officers.

“Police, search warrant,” the officers yelled as they pounded on the front door, and they continued to yell after they “breached” the door and entered the home, Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford wrote in a letter detailing information gleaned from a state police investigation of the raid. Police were seeking Slade Allen Woodson and a gun they believed was used in the Interstate 64 sniper shootings a day earlier.

As 31-year-old Albemarle police Officer M.J. Easton made his way toward the kitchen, Edgar Werner Dawson III appeared from his bedroom hall door, “holding a large silver revolver in both his hands with the gun extended in front of his body,” according to Lunsford.

Easton held up a shield, with “POLICE” on it, as officers yelled for Dawson to lower or drop the weapon, Lunsford wrote.

Dawson did not respond and Easton shot him twice, investigators found. Dawson’s gun also fired. The bullet hit the doorjamb and lodged in the floor near Easton, according to Lunsford. Dawson was the only person injured in the shooting, suffering wounds to his chest and an arm. He was treated at the University of Virginia Medical Center and eventually released.

Police got the man they sought during the raid, 19-year-old Woodson, plus Dawson’s 16-year-old son, Brandon.

After the raid shooting, two investigations were launched — one by the state police and the other by Albemarle police.

State police investigators wrapped up their criminal investigation within the past three weeks and handed over the findings to Lunsford, who announced Thursday that she would not pursue charges against Dawson or Easton.

The state police would not comment on the shooting or investigation.

Lunsford said there would be no charges against Easton because he was in the house legally while attempting to serve a search warrant; he was clearly identified as an officer; and numerous warnings were given for Dawson to lower or drop his weapon. She noted in her letter that Woodson, who was elsewhere in the house, heard the officers tell Dawson to put down his weapon.

“Easton’s actions eliminated the possibility of danger to himself” and to the other officers, Lunsford wrote.

Dawson’s case was more complicated. But if he were charged with attempted capital murder or brandishing a firearm and the case went to trial, he could have claimed self-defense, Lunsford said.

It was about 4:30 a.m. when police entered his home. He was asleep, with his wife, dogs were barking, and it was dark. It was possible he didn’t know who was in his house, she said. All of which “may have led him to believe he was in danger of grave bodily harm or death,” she said Thursday.

She also noted that there was “no credible evidence to suggest that Dawson knew Woodson was wanted by police” and that he has no felony criminal history.

Dawson could not be reached, and his attorney, John Zwerling, did not return a phone message.

Albemarle police also have concluded their internal investigation. They won’t release details of the finding because it is personnel related, department spokesman Lt. Todd Hopwood said. Easton, a school resource officer and a six-year veteran of the police department, has returned to regular duty, though.

As for the two suspects in the sniper shootings, Woodson has been charged with 15 felonies in relation to the March 27 incident in which several shots were fired on I-64 from the Route 690 overpass and another Ivy exit. Two people were slightly injured. Several Albemarle homes also were fired upon, as well as a car, bank, and home in Waynesboro.

Brandon Dawson pleaded guilty to five counts of malicious wounding and was sentenced to serve an indeterminate term in a state juvenile facility. His term could have run until he turned 21. He has since appealed, and the case is headed to circuit court.

This story was edited to correct the name in this sentence, “Dawson was the only person injured in the shooting, suffering wounds to his chest and an arm.“ from Easton to Dawson.