ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, January 23, 1996              TAG: 9601230067
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER 

BOY SHOT WITH BB PELLET DOING 'FAIR'

Jason Wood, the Blacksburg teen-ager hurt last month when a BB pellet lodged in his brain, is still recuperating at home.

Wood was shot Dec. 10 while visiting a 15-year-old's home with other friends. He was shot just after warning the 15-year-old not to aim the BB gun at anyone or someone was going to get hurt.

Last week, Blacksburg police said they had charged the 15-year-old boy with maliciously shooting in an occupied dwelling. A court date has not been set.

Deborah Cumbee, Wood's mother, said her son is doing "fair." He still is experiencing blurred vision, headaches, short-term memory loss and mood swings, Cumbee said.

Doctors will do a CT scan in March to further evaluate Wood's injuries. Until then, the Blacksburg High School freshman is homebound; a teacher has been assigned to work with him there to help him keep up with school.

Doctors let the pellet stay where it lodged so as not to risk affecting Wood's vision. The pellet went in above his right eyebrow and into his sinus cavity. It then traveled to the right side of his brain before stopping between the right and left hemispheres.

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