Police identify man shot by Berkeley County sheriff's deputy

Police say Raymond Wallace II was armed with what appeared to be a rifle and was holding a knife to a woman's neck

August 27, 2012|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD | matthew.umstead@herald-mail.com

Police said Raymond Wallace II, the man who was shot Saturday by a Berkeley County sheriff's deputy, was armed with what appeared to be a rifle. The firearm in Wallace's possession was later determined to be a pellet gun, police said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A man who was shot Saturday by a Berkeley County sheriff’s deputy was armed with what appeared to be a rifle and was holding a knife to a woman’s neck outside a Falling Waters, W.Va., residence in a tense confrontation that ended in gunfire, police said Monday.

Raymond Wallace II, 23, was shot once in the hip by sheriff’s deputy Ralph Pierce, who fired his weapon four times, police said.

Warrants charging Wallace with kidnapping, attempted robbery, attempted arson and second-degree sexual assault were issued Saturday, police said.

Wallace, who was flown to a Washington, D.C.-area hospital for treatment, now faces extradition back to Berkeley County to be arraigned on the charges, police said.

Pierce has been placed on administrative leave until an internal review is completed, police said.

The firearm in Wallace’s possession was later determined to be a pellet gun, police said. Wallace also was found with a butcher knife and two smaller knives, according to police.

The shooting in the first block of Yukon Drive occurred after deputies went to City Hospital in Martinsburg at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday to investigate a reported sexual assault, police said Monday. Police were told the sexual assault occurred a few hours earlier at the same residence as the shooting, police said Monday.

While at the hospital, deputies were told the defendant called the sexual assault victim’s family, taunted them and said he was holding another woman, a female family friend, at knifepoint at the Yukon Drive residence.

Upon arriving at the residence, Pierce and three other deputies saw the defendant leaving the home with the female, and noticed he was armed with what appeared to be a rifle and that he was holding a knife to the woman’s neck, police said.

Police said Pierce began shooting at the defendant when he did not obey orders to put down his weapons and pointed the firearm at the deputy instead.

Police said the man continued to resist being detained until he was subdued with a stun gun. While investigating the incident, police said they discovered that the defendant doused areas of the home with gasoline and intended to burn the residence.

Police said Wallace obtained a West Virginia identification card, but did not know where he resides.

Police declined to identify the age of the victims or the type of relationship that might have existed between Wallace and the women.

Sheriff Kenneth Lemaster said Monday he could not recall a previous shooting involving an officer in his 36 years with the department.

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