Inquiry continues into fatal Culpeper police shooting

Credit: GREG VANNOSTRAND/MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

Patricia A. Cook, 54, died in the SUV she was driving after being shot by a Culpeper police officer, Virginia State Police said.

By: JEFF SAY, ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION | Media General News Service
Published: February 10, 2012

CULPEPER, Va. --

An investigation continues into the shooting of a Culpeper woman Thursday by a police officer after a reported physical altercation on North East Street.

Patricia A. Cook, 54, died at the scene, according to the Virginia State Police, lead agency in the ongoing investigation.

The death is culpeper's first fatal police shooting, said Wally Bunker, a town spokesman.

At about 9:53 a.m., the local police officer, a five-year veteran, responded to the parking lot of the annex of Epiphany Catholic School for a report of a suspicious vehicle.

It was about 10 a.m. when the officer became engaged in a physical argument with Cook, driver of a Jeep Wrangler, according to the VSP, whose Police Shooting Investigation Team is leading the investigation with assistance from Culpeper Town Police and Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office.

During the altercation, the officer shot the woman, state police said. The officer, who was not identified, has been placed on administrative leave.

Cook’s remains were transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Manassas for examination and autopsy.

State police declined to release further details.

According to eyewitness Kris Buchele, whose father owns a building directly behind the school parking lot, the officer was talking to Cook in her Jeep, when she began to roll up the window and pull away. The witness said the officer’s arm was in the window as Cook was rolling it up.

“The officer yelled, ‘Stop, stop or I’m going to shoot,’” Buchele said.

Buchele described the initial shot as “point blank” and said the officer then fired at least five more shots as Cook pulled out of the parking lot and onto North East Street. The Jeep headed south, past the intersection with East Spencer Street, before crashing into a telephone pole.

Witness Adam Forster, who lives on North East Street, said he heard loud yelling “for about a minute,” before eight or nine shots were fired.

He said he saw the police officer run up the street on foot, after the Jeep, before it crashed.

The daylong closing of a portion of East Street, a heavily traveled alternate north-south route parallel to Main Street, clogged downtown traffic.

Yellow crime scene tape surrounded a five-block area on North East, blocking Davis to Piedmont streets to vehicular and pedestrian traffic for hours.

At Epiphany Catholic, children and parents milled about after school, yellow police tape and police activity visible from less than a block away.

“We are good,” said principal Wendy Murphy, noticeably anxious following the day’s events. “Everything is business as usual.”

She said all of the schoolchildren remained safe at all times during the shooting incident.

“All of the teachers handled everything in an entirely appropriate manner,” Murphy said, “and the police responded immediately.”

Culpeper Mayor Chip Coleman was at the police station on Old Brandy Road when the incident occurred just as two new officers had been sworn in.

“Everyone was joking and laughing,” he said as he left the station, adding then, “Guys went flying past me on Piedmont (Street).”

Coleman said it was appropriate for the State Police to investigate and that he wanted to make sure information about the incident is made public.

(Jeff Say and Allison Brophy Champion report for the Culpeper Star Exponent.)