THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180581
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SARAH HUNTLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Nineteen - or more than half - of the 36 shootings reported on Virginia highways so far this year have been in Hampton Roads, according to the state police. Thirteen were on Interstate 64.
Many of the other shootings were clustered in Northern Virginia.
State police began to track highway shootings in November after noting an increase in the use of firearms and drive-by violence on the roadways. The figures will help troopers gain a clearer picture of the dangers, spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said.
Despite a handful of cases in which guns were fired by frustrated drivers fed up with being cut off, most highway confrontations don't start on the highway, Van Dame said.
``We are not talking about random shootings,'' Van Dame said. ``Mostly, we are finding that the people already knew each other and took (previous) confrontations out on the highway.''
The most recent incident in Hampton Roads supports this conclusion. Shortly after 9 p.m. on Aug. 7, a woman and her ex-husband were driving along I-64 when another motorist fired a gun toward their vehicle. Police later arrested the woman's ex-boyfriend, Tommy James Banks, who allegedly had been stalking the woman for weeks, and charged him with the shooting.
``The altercations usually began somewhere else, like in a bar or out on the streets,'' said Bob Jasinowski, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations. ``The people get out on the highway in a chase situation, and they start shooting at each other.''
Police said they were not surprised that Hampton Roads highways ranked highest, because the area is so heavily populated and has so much traffic.
``We have seven major cities here. That's a lot of people,'' Jasinowski said. The Hampton Roads cities are home to about 1.2 million people, representing more than one-sixth of the state's population.
Jasinowski also pointed out that guns have become the method of choice for resolving disputes.
``A lot of matters now are solved by guns instead of the fighting styles of the past,'' he said.
State police advise motorists to use caution when on the roadways. Don't provoke other drivers or act aggressively, Van Dame said. If someone shoots at you, get the license plate number and a description of the vehicle, but don't endanger yourself, she said.
``It's a matter of keeping your wits about you, using common sense. These things do occur,'' Van Dame said. ``You never know who might be driving next to you.''
At the same time, though, police pointed out that thousands of vehicles travel the highways each day without incident. Nineteen shootings is hardly an epidemic.
``Our concern for public safety prompted us to keep these figures and make them available, but we don't want to cause undue alarm,'' Van Dame said. ``We don't want to make people afraid to get in their cars.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff graphic
Highway Shootings in Hampton Roads since Jan. 1, 1994:
City date of occurance route<
Chesapeake 2/1/94 664
7/29/94 I-64
2/3/94 I-64
Hampton 1/2/94 I-64
2/6/94 664
2/6/94 I-64
2/5/94 I-64
Newport
News 5/19/94 I-64
5/26/94 I-64
2/28/94 I-64
4/2/94 I-64
4/1/94 I-64
2/26/94 664
2/10/94 I-64
Norfolk 2/18/94 264
3/9/94 264
8/7/94 I-64
Portsmouth 2/20/94 I-64
1/10/94 264
KEYWORDS: HIGHWAY SHOOTINGS STATISTICS by CNB