W.Va. man receives 6 years for gunplay

November 29, 2000

W.Va. man receives 6 years for gunplay

By DAVE McMILLION / Staff Writer, Charles Town

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Harpers Ferry, W.Va., man has been sentenced to six years in prison following an incident last summer in which police were fired at up to 14 times with an AK-47 and one of their cruisers was rammed, according to prosecutors.

Bobby Davis, 24, of Route 2, Harpers Ferry, was sentenced last Wednesday by Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Steptoe Jr., according to Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Michael D. Thompson.

Davis received the sentencing following a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to three counts of wanton endangerment with a firearm, according to Jefferson County Circuit Court records.

Under the agreement, other charges were dropped, Thompson said.

Davis was initially indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on three counts of first-degree attempted murder, three counts of wanton endangerment involving a firearm, three counts of shooting at another person in a place of public resort and three counts of assault on a police officer, according to Jefferson County Circuit Court records.

Conviction on wanton endangerment involving a firearm carries a maximum prison sentence of one to five years. Steptoe sentenced Davis to two years on each of the charges of wanton endangerment involving a firearm.

Police went to Davis' house in August 1999 after receiving a call from a woman who said her husband was considering suicide, said Sheriff William Senseney.

When deputies arrived at Davis' house in Shannondale, they noticed headlights from a car that was approaching the house.

Police were not sure if the driver got out of the car, but 12 to 14 rounds from an AK-47 were fired in the direction of the deputies, Senseney said.

The man then rammed his car into a Sheriff's Department cruiser, causing the man's assault rifle to lodge in the front windshield of his car, Senseney said.

As the man was trying to pull the rifle out of the windshield, two deputies fired at Davis, Senseney said.

After being shot, Davis got out of his car and began approaching one of the deputies, who applied pepper spray. The three deputies then tackled Davis, Senseney said.

Although Davis may have been shot up to three times, the injuries were not life threatening.

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