Soldier Killed by Va. Deputies Armed With BB Gun

A Fort Bragg soldier who was fatally shot Saturday by two Virginia deputies was armed with a BB gun, state police said Wednesday.

Pfc. Robert L. Henderson, 21, was shot after firing at the deputies during an attempted traffic stop along Interstate 295.

The Virginia State Police said Henderson's weapon was a Crosman Model C-11 .177-caliber compressed-air BB gun.

The confrontation occurred in Hopewell, Va., about 25 miles from Richmond and two miles from Fort Lee.

A Hopewell sheriff's deputy stopped Henderson's 2000 Nissan Altima about 10 a.m. after clocking the southbound vehicle at about 100 mph, authorities said. Henderson drove off as a deputy approached the car but stopped again about two miles down the highway, authorities said.

Witnesses told investigators that Henderson got out of his car and pointed a weapon at two deputies who had pursued him, a Virginia State Police spokesman said.

The deputies repeatedly ordered Henderson to put the gun down, but the soldier fired at them, authorities said.

Both deputies returned fire and wounded Henderson, who later died at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, police said.

The deputies are on administrative duty pending the completion of the investigation, according to the Hopewell Sheriff's Office.

Virginia law says officers cannot be held liable for injuries or death if they have reason to believe that they are being threatened with a firearm.

That includes any air- or gas-operated weapon, the law says.

Copyright 2011 - The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service