Botetourt Officers Rounding-Up Group Involved in Night Shootings and Property Damage
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Botetourt County sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday were in the process of rounding-up a group of six county residents in connection with a December rampage of Buchanan area night shootings, animal killings, and property damage, Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle has announced.
Sheriff Sprinkle said that the series of incidents began December 7 and continued through December 31, with the most extensive damage being done on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Four adult males, one adult female, and one juvenile female will be charged, he said. In summarizing the spree, he said that “there were trash cans set on fire, mail boxes damaged, indiscriminate shooting at business signs, outside night-lights, drive-way lights, windows, and vehicles, and the most egregious event was the killing of a dairy cow that was dragged more than a mile to a hidden spot and butchered for choice cuts.”
The events involved J & R Grocery, North Star Restaurant, and a residence, all on US 11 south of Buchanan, mail boxes along Mt. Joy Road, a dairy farm on Flowing Springs Road, and, on two occasions, windows and vehicles at James River High School.
Sheriff Sprinkle reported that two of the group have been arrested and identified them as Corey Aaron Linthicum, 24, of Eagle Rock, and Andrew W. Long, 19, of Fincastle. He said that Linthicum has been charged with one misdemeanor, reckless handling of a firearm, and four felonies: killing an animal, grand larceny, malicious property damage, and shooting at a school building. Long has been charged two felonies, killing an animal and grand larceny, the sheriff said. Long has been released under $5,000 unsecured bond with a hearing date set for February 17 in Botetourt County General District Court, and Linthicum is being held without bond in the Botetourt-Craig Regional Jail in Fincastle.
Investigators are preparing charges involving four other persons identified as having been involved in the incidents, Sprinkle said.
|  | Corey Aaron Linthicum
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|  | Andrew W. Long
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