Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9408010042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER NOTE: Lede
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Updike said Abbott killed Allen in self-defense.
"I feel this was just so clear-cut as to self-defense; it was my responsibility to make that call," the prosecutor said.
In a six-page news release detailing his decision, Updike said evidence gathered at the scene of the killing in the Scenic Acres subdivision proved Abbott's claim that Allen had aimed a TEC-9 semiautomatic rifle at him.
"The law in Virginia concerning self-defense provides that if a person reasonably fears ... that he is in danger of being killed ... he may use deadly force in response to that danger," Updike said.
After learning Friday that he would not be charged in the killing, Abbott said Aubrey Allen "was dangerous. If I had not shot him, I know for a fact my family would be dead and a big part of this neighborhood would be dead."
Abbott said he had tried to make peace with Allen shortly before the killing, but Allen threatened to kill his family and many other families in the subdivision off Virginia 755, where both men lived.
"The system let me down," he said, adding that state police and local authorities had ignored his complaints about Allen's carrying weapons in the subdivision. Allen, an ex-convict who served time for attempted murder, was prohibited from possessing firearms.
Dreama Abbott, his wife, said she calls Scenic Acres "Waco Acres," after the Waco, Texas, compound where David Koresh stockpiled weapons. She said so many people feared Allen that even neighbors who were afraid to own guns starting buying them.
Darlene Allen, Aubrey Allen's widow, said Friday that Updike's decision not to charge Abbott makes her "extremely angry." She knew Thursday that the prosecutor was not going to charge Abbott, but she promised Updike she would not discuss the decision until he made a public announcement.
"Bedford County has given Paul Abbott a license to kill and he will do it again," she said. "I do not believe myself and my family have been treated fairly."
She says the killing was a premeditated act of murder motivated by the feud and prejudice against her husband's infection with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. She also says HIV prejudice blinded Updike to her testimony that Aubrey Allen was not holding the gun the night he was killed.
She says Allen took her TEC-9 and drove a Go Kart to Abbott's house June 5 after the two men had a fight. She witnessed the killing and says Allen was unarmed and standing in the road when he was shot.
Abbott said Allen pointed the TEC-9 at him, prompting him to fire at Allen.
Updike said investigators recovered the TEC-9 near Allen's right hand as he lay in a field across from Abbott's house. A forensic scientist who tested the TEC-9 said it was fully loaded with 31 rounds of ammunition in the clip and one round in the chamber.
Darlene Allen contends the weapon and her husband's body were placed in the field after he died. Abbott says Allen was aiming the gun at him and running into the field as Abbott shot him.
Updike's report said drops of blood leading from where Allen was shot to where his body was found were consistent with a man walking or running, not with a man being carried or dragged. He also said bloodstains found on the gun prove that Allen dropped the gun and bled on it after he was shot.
The report also said Allen's autopsy showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.07 percent at the time of the shooting. A person legally is considered too drunk to drive at 0.08 percent.
Darlene Allen would not say whether she will pursue any further action against Abbott.
Abbott said he does not fear legal action, but he does fear that Darlene Allen or one of Aubrey Allen's friends might try to retaliate.
He said, "To take a life is something else. I sat in the police car for 45 minutes [after the shooting] and cried like a baby.
"My family's been through hell. If I had the money to move, I would have moved away from Darlene Allen and Aubrey Allen a long time ago."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB