100 gunshots hit police car in residential neighborhood, VA chief says. ‘An ambush’
Two police officers were sent scrambling for cover when a man fired more than 100 rounds from a high-powered rifle in a residential neighborhood, according to investigators in eastern Virginia.
It happened around noon, Wednesday, July 17, in the Williamsburg area of James City County, officials said, and the officers couldn’t tell who was shooting until a man emerged from his home about 200 feet away and surrendered.
He was identified as 35-year-old Andrew Francis Susalis and investigators have yet to release a motive.
Neither of the officers were hit by shots, but one was hospitalized after being struck by two bullet fragments, officials said.
The shooting lasted 5 minutes and more than 100 holes were counted in the patrol car, officials said. Multiple rounds also went into a nearby home, but none of the occupants were hit.
”For whatever reason, the suspect stopped shooting, came outside of the house and surrendered ... peacefully,” York-Poquoson Sheriff Ron Montgomery said at a press conference posted on YouTube.
”The two James City officers never really knew where the shots were coming from to be able to return fire, so no law enforcement officer returned fire. All the shots that were fired were done by the suspect.”
Susalis has been charged with:
- Two counts of attempted second-degree murder
- Two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony
- Two felony counts of reckless handling of a firearm
- One felony count of destruction of property
- One felony count of shooting into an occupied dwelling
A patrol car came to the 300 Block of Marks Pond Way while investigating a road rage incident earlier in the day, officials said. Shots were fired and the other vehicle was hit at least four times, James City County Police Chief Mark Jamison said at a news conference.
Susalis was a suspect in that case and the officers had stopped to talk to one of his neighbors when the shooting began, officials said.
Jamison believes Susalis was trying to kill the officers, one of whom flattened himself against the curb to dodge bullets.
“This was nothing more than an ambush on our officers and they had nothing to do but to find cover, hunker down and hope that they didn’t struck,” Jamison said.
”If you look at this car again, you will see that there’s no doubt what this individual had in mind. ... People may say ‘oh that’s what up sign up for.’ No one signs up for that. We don’t sign up to pull up to a house and take over 100 rounds from a rifle.”
The suspect had been charged in the past with “fairly minor incidents,” including a 2007 trespassing case and 2007 larceny case, officials said.
James City County is about a 50-mile drive southeast of Richmond.
This story was originally published July 18, 2024 at 8:23 AM with the headline "100 gunshots hit police car in residential neighborhood, VA chief says. ‘An ambush’."