Elswick

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A country music show designed to raise money for West Virginia State Police Trooper Robert "R.J. " Elswick's medical expenses has been postponed until March 2, an organizer said. The event, which had been scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Rainbow Road Club near Rippon, had to be postponed because of Sunday's snowstorm, said Rick Hahn. Elswick returned home to Berkeley County on Friday after surviving a gunshot wound to the head while responding to a domestic call on Harper Lane near Hedgesville on Oct. 10. For a $5 admission, supporters will be able to hear several country music acts.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - It was a night for surprise awards and recounting miraculous comeback stories during the ninth annual Law & Safety Day in Martinsburg on Sunday. The awards banquet - hosted by Elks Lodge 778 in Martinsburg - is held to honor police, fire and correctional facility personnel who show exceptional performance while holding down their dangerous jobs. Sunday night, special recognitions of merit were awarded to R.J. "Bobby" Elswick and Scott E. Paugh, two West Virginia State Police officers who were seriously injured in separate incidents last year.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Firefighters from all of Berkeley County's volunteer fire departments will fan out across the county Saturday to raise money for West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. Elswick, who remains in critical condition in a Maryland hospital after being shot in the head during a domestic call on Oct. 10. The county's volunteer firefighters will conduct a boot drive at various locations on...

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - There have been boot drives, auctions and sandwich sales to raise money to help pay for West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. Elswick's medical bills. Now a country music event is being planned to help Elswick, who was seriously injured when he was shot in the head while responding to a domestic call in Berkeley County on Oct. 10, 2002. On Sunday beginning at 1 p.m., the Rainbow Road Club along U.S. 340 south of Charles Town will feature about five country music acts to raise money for Elswick, said Rick Hahn, an employee at the bar. For a $5 admission, supporters will be able to hear bands Grey Wolf, Fast Lane and Boomarang, Hahn said.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Officials with a local motorcycle club that hosted the Motorcycle Mania event earlier this month in Berkeley County donated more than $11,000 to local organizations and West Virginia State Police Trooper Bobby Elswick Tuesday night. The money, which totaled $11,700, was raised through admission to the event and motorcycle registration fees, said Jeff Wilkins, president of American Justice Freedom Riders. Motorcycle Mania organizers had said they were going to support local causes through the event.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A 13-year-old Martinsburg boy was killed Tuesday when his four-wheeler ran off Jacobs Road and hit a utility pole head-on, state police said. Another 13-year-old boy, from Hedgesville, W.Va., was taken by ambulance to City Hospital then airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, said West Virginia State Trooper R.J. Elswick. That boy's condition could not be obtained. Neither boy was wearing a helmet, Elswick said.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The man accused of shooting West Virginia State Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick once in the head last fall has previously taken lithium after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, one of his attorneys said Monday. During a routine status hearing, attorney Margaret Gordon told Circuit Court Judge David Sanders that David Munday, 37, was treated in Frederick, Md., for the mental disorder. She did not say when the diagnosis or treatment took place.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Sgt. Eric Burnett spoke haltingly as he testified Thursday about what happened on the night of Oct. 10, 2002, when his best friend, fellow West Virginia State Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick, was shot once in the head. After a confrontation with an armed man on that dark, rainy night, Burnett dropped to his stomach and saw and heard a gunshot. Then, he said, he heard a gurgling sound a few feet to his left. Crawling over, Burnett found Elswick lying facedown on the ground.

charlestown@herald-mail.com David Eugene Munday, the Hedgesville, W.Va., man accused of shooting West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick during a domestic call, claims he is being harassed in the Eastern Regional Jail and could be transferred to another jail this week, his attorney said in a hearing Monday. Martinsburg attorney Robert Barrat requested the transfer Monday, telling Berkeley County Circuit Judge David Sanders that Munday is being "challenged in hallways" at the jail by correctional officers.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com After deliberating for a little more than an hour late Tuesday afternoon, jurors hearing the trial of David Eugene Munday decided they wanted to leave for the night and resume today. Munday, 38, of Hedgesville, W.Va., is being tried on 25 felony and misdemeanor charges related to the Oct. 10, 2002, shooting of West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick. The trial began last week. Neither Munday nor Elswick, who continues to recover from the gunshot wound to his head, testified.

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Officials with a local motorcycle club that hosted the Motorcycle Mania event earlier this month in Berkeley County donated more than $11,000 to local organizations and West Virginia State Police Trooper Bobby Elswick Tuesday night. The money, which totaled $11,700, was raised through admission to the event and motorcycle registration fees, said Jeff Wilkins, president of American Justice Freedom Riders. Motorcycle Mania organizers had said they were going to support local causes through the event.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com David Eugene Munday was sentenced Monday to serve life in prison for shooting a West Virginia State Police trooper in the head more than a year ago, and will serve additional time in prison for related charges. Before Circuit Court Judge David Sanders announced the sentence, Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick, the trooper who was wounded, spoke, as did Elswick's wife, father and a friend, Sgt. Eric Burnett. Terri Elswick responded to a comment made in court by Robert Barrat, one of Munday's defense attorneys, that the case had been blown out of proportion because a state trooper was involved.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com After deliberating for a little more than an hour late Tuesday afternoon, jurors hearing the trial of David Eugene Munday decided they wanted to leave for the night and resume today. Munday, 38, of Hedgesville, W.Va., is being tried on 25 felony and misdemeanor charges related to the Oct. 10, 2002, shooting of West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick. The trial began last week. Neither Munday nor Elswick, who continues to recover from the gunshot wound to his head, testified.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Sgt. Eric Burnett spoke haltingly as he testified Thursday about what happened on the night of Oct. 10, 2002, when his best friend, fellow West Virginia State Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick, was shot once in the head. After a confrontation with an armed man on that dark, rainy night, Burnett dropped to his stomach and saw and heard a gunshot. Then, he said, he heard a gurgling sound a few feet to his left. Crawling over, Burnett found Elswick lying facedown on the ground.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Jurors hearing the trial of David Eugene Munday went Wednesday morning to the spot where West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick was shot last year, where they checked out the crime scene, took notes and asked questions. Munday, 38, of Hedgesville, W.Va., faces 28 felony and misdemeanor charges that stem from events leading to and including the Oct. 10, 2002, shooting. Charges include three counts of kidnapping, six counts of wanton endangerment and four counts of attempted murder.

andrews@herald-mail.com A statistical projection of jury-pool bias on Wednesday failed to convince a judge to transfer a well-publicized attempted-murder case to another county. The attorneys representing David Eugene Munday, 38, of Harper Lane in Hedgesville, W.Va., requested a change in venue for his trial, which could mean moving it elsewhere or impaneling an out-of-county jury. Munday was charged with attempted murder after West Virginia State Police Trooper Robert J. Elswick was shot in the head Oct. 10, 2002.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com A correctional officer at Eastern Regional Jail testified Tuesday that David Eugene Munday said he shot a state trooper in October because he wanted police to kill him. "He actually used the term 'cop-assisted suicide,'" said Correctional Officer Michael Scott Trail Sr. Trail was one of 15 witnesses who testified during a pretrial hearing before Circuit Judge David Sanders. Munday's trial is set to begin with jury selection on Oct. 21. He is charged with one count of malicious wounding of a police officer and four counts of attempted murder.

charlestown@herald-mail.com David Eugene Munday, the Hedgesville, W.Va., man accused of shooting West Virginia State Police Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick during a domestic call, claims he is being harassed in the Eastern Regional Jail and could be transferred to another jail this week, his attorney said in a hearing Monday. Martinsburg attorney Robert Barrat requested the transfer Monday, telling Berkeley County Circuit Judge David Sanders that Munday is being "challenged in hallways" at the jail by correctional officers.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com Martinsburg, W.Va. - A banquet room was filled with camera flashes and hard swallows Tuesday afternoon when a Purple Heart medal was pinned to the shirt of West Virginia State Police Trooper 1st Class R.J. "Bobby" Elswick. Then, different medals were pinned to the uniforms of three other troopers who responded with Elswick to a possible hostage call on Oct. 10, 2002. The 8:49 p.m. call ended with Elswick fallen in the mud, shot once in the head.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The man accused of shooting West Virginia State Trooper R.J. "Bobby" Elswick once in the head last fall has previously taken lithium after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, one of his attorneys said Monday. During a routine status hearing, attorney Margaret Gordon told Circuit Court Judge David Sanders that David Munday, 37, was treated in Frederick, Md., for the mental disorder. She did not say when the diagnosis or treatment took place.