Wounded trooper kills attacker
Posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 3:25 pm
A Virginia State Trooper, wounded by his own gun during a struggle with a man he had placed in his patrol car, returned fire with a second weapon and fatally wounded his assailant.
The sudden drama unfolded quickly Thursday in the officer’s patrol car in Caroline County while he was parked on the southbound shoulder of Interstate 95 a couple of miles south of the Thornburg exit.
The man, who died at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg on Friday morning, was identified as Herbert J. Wheeler Jr., 32, of Chesterfield.
The officer was identified as Senior Trooper Michael H. Hamer, 51. He suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was hospitalized at Mary Washington, where he underwent surgery for his wound. Hamer was released from the hospital Monday evening of this week.
Wheeler had been accused of assaulting his young son and also had a child custody hearing scheduled for this week. State Police declined to speculate whether the assault case or the custody hearing had any bearing on Wheeler’s actions on Thursday afternoon.
The incident occurred in the southbound lanes of I-95 near mile marker 116, about two miles south of the Thornburg exit, shortly before 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Hamer responded to a report of a man in the area who had abandoned a vehicle and later tried to enter a tractor-trailer truck that had stopped. The man was later identified as Wheeler, said Sgt. Thomas Molnar, a State Police spokesman.
Hamer located Wheeler walking along the right shoulder and placed him inside his patrol car. A violent struggle ensued, and Wheeler tried to get the officer’s service pistol, reported Molnar. The gun discharged, striking Hamer in the leg. Hamer continued to struggle and shot Wheeler with another weapon, said Molnar.
Hamer got out of his patrol car, severely bleeding, and three good Samaritans, a man and two women, stopped to help him, said Molnar. “The good Samaritans acted heroically after the shooting took place,” he said.
In a statement issued by Molnar, the State Police spokesman did not identify the second weapon involved in the shooting, whether it was a State Police-issued gun or a personal firearm belonging to Hamer.
In response to a question about the second weapon, Molnar only said, “The gun was another weapon that Trooper Hamer used to return fire.”
Hamer was transported by ambulance to Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg and underwent surgery that evening. Wheeler was transported to the same hospital via helicopter.
Dozens of law enforcement officers immediately swarmed to the scene, State Police and also the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office and Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. Their patrol cars and unmarked vehicles congregated at the scene, and additional police vehicles were stropped on the left-hand shoulder of the northbound lanes. A medivac helicopter, its rotors running, landed in the middle of the southbound lanes just south of the police vehicles.
Police quickly closed off all the southbound lanes at the Thornburg exit in order to investigate the shooting. One lane was reopened to traffic about 5:30 p.m. and was closed briefly before reopening at 7:30 p.m. The closing backed up traffic for about 10 miles.
Earlier, State Police were summoned nearby – mile marker 120 – in response to a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe that Wheeler abandoned in the center median, according to Molnar. State Police were called to the scene about 1:30 p.m. after Wheeler fled into a wooded an area when a special agent of the Department of Motor Vehicle attempted to stop him for reckless driving. The area was searched, but Wheeler was not found.
A tractor-trailer truck driver stopped his rig on the right shoulder of I-95 at mile marker 118 in Spotsylvania County in order to inspect a tire, and at about 2:30 he reported that a man – later identified as Wheeler – approached him and tried to gain access to his truck, then fled back into the woods.
Hamer responded to the truck driver’s report and located Wheeler about 2:49 p.m., according to Molnar.
Special Agents with the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation are continuing their investigation into the shooting, said Molnar.
Hamer, an ex-Marine, has been a State Trooper since 1997. He is assigned to the Culpeper office, which covers Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.
The state Department of Transportation reported at 3 a.m. Friday that all southbound lanes had reopened.
Wheeler worked at Fort Lee as a contractor in information technology, according to his ex-wife, Bianca Wheeler.
In addition to the pending assault case, Wheeler had two misdemeanor assault cases withdrawn against him in 2007 and 2008. Both cases involved allegations of assault against Bianca Wheeler.
