Crime & Safety
Suspect in Highway Police Shootout Dies
Trooper shot in leg when man tried to grab gun from holster, returns fire, dealing fatal wounds.
A 32-year-old man involved in yesterday's shootout with a Virginia State Police officer on I-95 has died in hospital from wounds sustained during the gunfight. Police have identified the man as Chesterfield resident Herbert Wheeler.
State trooper Michael H. Hamer is recovering at Mary Washington Hospital from a serious, but non-life threatening gunshot wound to the leg received during the shootout.
The incident occurred on the side of the road of the southbound lanes of I-95 at mile marker 116 at around 3 p.m. on December 8.
Virginia State Police say the situation started at about 1:30 p.m. when troopers were called to help search for Wheeler when he fled on foot after a Department of Motor Vehicles special agent tried to pull him over for reckless driving. Troopers searched the area for Wheeler at the time but were unable to find him.
About an hour later, a tractor trailer driver stopping to inspect his rig called police to report that a man had tried to gain access to the truck driver's cab. Wheeler fled back into the woods.
Hamer soon located Wheeler strolling along the right shoulder of the highway at about 2:49 p.m. Wheeler was apprehended and Hamer was in the process of putting him inside his unmarked patrol car when a struggle ensued.
Police say that Wheeler attempted to grab Hamer's handgun, which discharged into the trooper's leg. The fight continued inside the car until the trooper shot back with a different weapon.
Once the trooper was shot, two women and man stopped to administer first aid to the severely bleeding trooper.
"The good samaritans acted heroically after the shooting took place," reads a release from the VSP.
Both Hamer and Wheeler were taken to Mary Washington Hospital. Wheeler died in the early morning hours of December 9.
Hamer has been an employee of the Virginia State Police since 1996 and graduated from basic training in 1997.
Agents from the VSP Bureau of Criminal Investigation Field Office Shoot Team are still investigating the incident.
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