POLICE INVESTIGATE REPORT OF SHOOTING ATTEMPT

Teenager Says Shots Were Fired On Her At Go-Mart

Investigators probing three sniper-style shootings today were checking
reports that a teenager was fired upon at a Dunbar convenience store, and
officers chased a dark-colored pickup in the Browns Creek area near St. Albans.

Dunbar Capt. R.L. Gillespie said a 16-year-old girl said she was the target
of shots she said were fired from a maroon pickup about 11:30 p.m.
Wednesday at the Go-Mart on the corner of Dunbar Avenue and 10th Street,
just off Interstate 64.

Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley, who was at the Go-Mart today to speak
with reporters, said officers from the multi-agency task force dealing with
the shooting deaths outside three area conveniences were on scene most of
the night. From what Pauley understood, officers did not find anything
indicating shots were fired.

"I don't know at this point," Pauley said. "People heard there was a shot,
but there was no evidence found at the scene. All we have is people's
statements.

"If it did occur, it was more of a drive-by. That's a different (scenario),
but you can't rule anything out."

Pauley also said if there were shots fired and the gunman was planning to
shoot someone, he must have missed.

"That's another big difference," between the Dunbar incident and the other
shootings, Pauley said.

Shawn Zuniga told a cameraman from WOWK-TV, that he and a friend were
eating at a nearby Wendy's when they heard what sounded like a gunshot.

"We just heard one shot," he said.

Pauley said that what sounded like a gunshot could have been a truck
backfiring or any other kind of loud noise. Because of the shooting, Pauley
said people are "a little bit edgy."

Zuniga said he spoke with the girl who was walking near the gas station's
Dunbar Avenue entrance who said she felt what seemed like a bullet fly past
her face.

"A couple came running in and the girl was hysterical," Robert Moore, a
customer at the convenience store, told WCHS-TV. "They said a truck came
by, fired two shots, and then they took off running."

Gillespie said the Dunbar Police Department is being advised by an
interdepartmental task force set up to investigate the sniper-like
shootings in the Kanawha Valley.

"We haven't determined anything . . . if it's in connection," he said.

Pauley said there was a chase involving police and a dark-colored truck
early today, but he was unsure the chase's relation to the Dunbar incident.

Police have said a dark-colored, extended cab pickup truck was at the scene
of the shooting deaths of Jeanie Patton and Okey Meadows Jr., both of
Campbells Creek. They were shot and killed one week ago today.

Patton was shot while pumping gas at the Speedway on Campbells Creek Drive.
Meadows was shot through the neck while standing at a pay window at the
Go-Mart in Cedar Grove.

Pauley didn't know much about today's chase, but said the description of
the truck officers were pursuing was "a bit different" from the one police
think was at the scene of the other two shootings.

Pauley said he was unsure of an exact timeframe for the chase, but people
at the scene said the driver managed to elude police in the Browns Creek
area. Browns Creek straddles the Kanawha-Putnam line along Coal River Road
just outside of St. Albans.

Many Browns Creek residents say they didn't hear or see anything overnight,
but they suspect there are plenty of places to hide and escape for someone
who knew the area well.

"If you know these roads at all, there's a bunch of different ways you can
get out of here," 25-year Brown Creek resident Tom Huffman said. "You can
go clear on down to (W.Va. 34) which will take you on out to Hamlin and
Lincoln County, or you can go up and over the hill and all the way down to
Turkey Creek."

There was no police tape and virtually no police presence at the Go-Mart
early today, and customers passed freely in and out of the store.

Pauley also said forensic tests on the bullet that killed Gary Carrier Jr.
of South Charleston should be released today. Carrier was killed Aug. 10 at
a Go-Mart on Charleston's West Side.

During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Kanawha County Chief Deputy
Phil Morris said the bullets that killed Patton and Meadows were fired from
the same weapon.

Morris also brought up a possible drug link between the killings. He said a
family member of one of the victims brought another person to the sheriff's
department who said one of the victims had some kind of unspecified
involvement with cocaine

Meadows' uncle William Tinsley adamantly denied that his nephew was
involved with drugs.

"My nephew was not affiliated with drugs," he said.

He added that his Meadows' family "did not appreciate" the insinuation that
he was somehow involved in any aspect of the drug trade.

"That boy had a very good name. We are upset about his name being run
through the mud," Tinsley said.

However, Tinsely, who lived with Meadows, said investigators are doing "a
good job."

Patton's family members were unavailable for comment, but her father, Larry
Patton, said he never knew his daughter to use drugs.