
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990                   TAG: 9004110447
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

33-YEAR-OLD MAN SHOT IN STOMACH, UNDERGOES SURGERY

A Northwest Roanoke man was undergoing surgery late Tuesday night after having been shot in the stomach at his home on Mercer Avenue Northwest.

A nursing supervisor at Community Hospital had no information on the condition of Ralph Anthony Chapman, 33, other than that he was still in the operating room around midnight.

Chapman, police said, apparently was shot by his brother, James Carlton Chapman, who lives in the same house in the 1700 block of Mercer Avenue.

Police found the victim walking up the street and away from the house where the shooting took place, police said. They said he had been shot in the abdomen with a .22 caliber gun.

An officer at the scene said Ralph Chapman, the victim, had apparently assaulted James Chapman prior to the shooting.

Police said James Chapman had taken a warrant against Ralph Chapman for brandishing a firearm over another incident in March, but that charge has yet to be tried, police said.

James Chapman cooperated with police, they said. He had not been charged pending a further investigation.

James Chapman told police he had feared for his safety, said Sgt. W.K. West of the Roanoke Police Department.

by CNB