VA Cops Kill Man Wanted for Violating Protective Order; Woman 'Hateful' Toward Deputies
Ken (NY)
'Hateful' Toward Deputies
Rocky Mount, Virginia - 7/8/2001
By Lindsey Nair and Kimberly O'Brien The Roanoke Times
The case of a missing Salem, Virginia woman came to a rapid and deadly
end Friday night after the man wanted for questioning in her
disappearance was apparently gunned down by police outside a Rocky
Mount restaurant.
Dewey Lee Summerlin, 44, was shot to death after he leveled a
sawed-off shotgun at Franklin County authorities in the KFC parking
lot on North Main Street in Rocky Mount, said Franklin County Sheriff
W.Q "Quint" Overton. Jennifer Barker, 44, and Summerlin's 15-year-old
son, Lee, who were with Summerlin, were unharmed, he said.
Police had been looking for Barker since the Roanoke postal worker
disappeared the morning of June 28. Her personal car was found near
her mail truck on Fifth Street Northeast, off Kimball Avenue in
Roanoke, but she was nowhere to be found. Summerlin, against whom
Barker had a protective order, disappeared about the same time.
Overton described Friday night's events as follows: A dispatcher at
the Franklin County Sheriff's Office received a call about 10 p.m.
that a car matching the description of Summerlin's green Honda was at
Ippy's Restaurant and Lounge on North Main Street in Rocky Mount. The
caller told the dispatcher the car was either out of gas or had broken
down.
When Franklin County sheriff's Lt. David Cundiff arrived with Deputy
Sandra Cundiff, who is a distant relative, the car was parked in a far
corner of the Ippy's parking lot. A woman was at the wheel, a man was
in the passenger's seat, and a boy was in the back.
David Cundiff identified himself and ordered them out of the car.
Barker and Summerlin both got out of the car, and Summerlin reached
behind the passenger seat, pulling out a shotgun.
Cundiff yelled "Drop it!" but Summerlin ran around the back of the
Shell station next door. Cundiff fired one shot at Summerlin, but
police were unsure whether that shot hit him.
Rocky Mount police Officer Jason Divers, who responded to the call
with Franklin County correctional officer Paul Smith, was parked at
North Main Street and Grassy Hill Road. After they saw Summerlin run
across North Main to KFC, they pulled their car to the edge of the
restaurant parking lot, got out and shouted for him to drop his gun.
"When he raised it up shoulder level, both of them shot at him,"
Overton said. Overton believes the two officers fired at least three
shots. He said it is also possible that Summerlin's shotgun fired at
that point, but he was unsure whether it was purposeful or the
accidental result of his being shot.
Overton said he didn't know where on his body Summerlin was shot, or
how many times.
Overton said Barker, who was driving the car, did not appear to be
held against her will.
"She was arrogant and hateful toward the deputies," he said.
Barker and Summerlin's son were taken to the Franklin County Sheriff's
Office for questioning, Overton said.
Summerlin's death and Barker's safe return put an end to the
investigation that had developed as authorities and citizens looked
on.
Barker was reported missing on Thursday, June 28. That Saturday,
authorities recovered a burgundy minivan Summerlin had bought from a
Roanoke dealership the night before Barker disappeared. The minivan
was returned Sunday by someone a salesman believed might have been
Summerlin's son.
Police then learned that Summerlin had borrowed a 1990 Mitsubishi
Galant from a friend. That car was discovered outside an apartment at
Lynville-on-the-Lake in the Hardy area of Franklin County on Monday.
Summerlin had been renting the apartment for about a week, and
neighbors said they saw him there June 28 with a woman matching
Barker's description.
Upon finding the car, police said in a search warrant affidavit that
what appeared to be human blood was inside the car. Police have not
said whether that substance was indeed blood.
Several people heard from Summerlin while Barker was missing,
including the friend from whom he borrowed the Galant and Lawrence
Wolf, his landlord at Lynville-on-the-Lake. When Wolf spoke to
Summerlin on Monday night, Summerlin told him Barker and his son were
OK.
As the full moon looked down on Rocky Mount on Friday night, Summerlin
was the only one who had not come out of the ordeal alive and well.
He lay beneath a bloodied white sheet at the end of the drive-through
lane of KFC, surrounded by crime scene tape and about a dozen police
cars. Onlookers stood on their cars, gawking and taking pictures.
Virginia State Police are handling the investigation into Summerlin's
death.
ROANOKE(VIRGINIA)TIMES
Ken (NY)
--
Chairperson,
Department of Redundancy Department
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