May 13, 2008
Teen Shooting Victim Dies; Had Been Arrested During Drug
Sweep
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – A young man who allegedly brought a handgun into the Speedway convenience store at Hal Greer Blvd. and Sixth Avenue on Sunday afternoon, May 11, has died.
Rashawn Harless, 19, had fled the store after customers told Marshall University Police Officers inside that the man had a handgun. MUPD officers followed him and alerted the Huntington Police Department. “We responded to the 1500 block of Seventh Avenue where [Harless] brandished a gun, ran erratically between houses and apartments, and [MUPD] contained him at the dead end of 15th Street near the railroad tracks. He took a position behind a metal dumpster and began firing shots at law enforcement. Two Marshall officers returned fire,” Holbrook said.
After shots were fired, city SWAT team members approached him with ballistic shields. An ambulance transported the injured man to Cabell Huntington Hospital where he underwent surgery for a bullet wound in the head. Marshall University officers exchanged fire with Harless. Until “an autopsy and a ballastics check,” Holbrook said it will not be known whether officers fired the fatal bullet or whether Harless took his own life.
During the sweep of the Fairfield neighborhood Wednesday, May 7, Holbrook explained that Harless had been arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge and taken to the Western Regional Jail. Two days later, he made bond and went back on the streets. He had been charged Wednesday, May 7, with possession with intent to deliver counterfeit cocaine. A $5,000 bond was posted to obtain his release.
“Bonding out would be appropriate for the type of charge he was arrested for,” Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook said following Monday night’s meeting of Huntington City Council. “Based on the investigation up to this point, he did not have a troubled past beyond the recent arrest.”
At this time, the motive for Harless’ stand off with law enforcement which ended with him held up behind a garbage bin at 1500 7th Avenue has not been determined. Huntington, Marshall, Cabell County Sheriff and W.Va. State Police barricaded off a perimeter around the scene for nearly two hours and requested that residents stay in doors.
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Teen Shooting Victim Dies; Had Been Arrested During Drug
Sweep
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) – A young man who allegedly brought a handgun into the Speedway convenience store at Hal Greer Blvd. and Sixth Avenue on Sunday afternoon, May 11, has died.
Rashawn Harless, 19, had fled the store after customers told Marshall University Police Officers inside that the man had a handgun. MUPD officers followed him and alerted the Huntington Police Department. “We responded to the 1500 block of Seventh Avenue where [Harless] brandished a gun, ran erratically between houses and apartments, and [MUPD] contained him at the dead end of 15th Street near the railroad tracks. He took a position behind a metal dumpster and began firing shots at law enforcement. Two Marshall officers returned fire,” Holbrook said.
After shots were fired, city SWAT team members approached him with ballistic shields. An ambulance transported the injured man to Cabell Huntington Hospital where he underwent surgery for a bullet wound in the head. Marshall University officers exchanged fire with Harless. Until “an autopsy and a ballastics check,” Holbrook said it will not be known whether officers fired the fatal bullet or whether Harless took his own life.
During the sweep of the Fairfield neighborhood Wednesday, May 7, Holbrook explained that Harless had been arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge and taken to the Western Regional Jail. Two days later, he made bond and went back on the streets. He had been charged Wednesday, May 7, with possession with intent to deliver counterfeit cocaine. A $5,000 bond was posted to obtain his release.
“Bonding out would be appropriate for the type of charge he was arrested for,” Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook said following Monday night’s meeting of Huntington City Council. “Based on the investigation up to this point, he did not have a troubled past beyond the recent arrest.”
At this time, the motive for Harless’ stand off with law enforcement which ended with him held up behind a garbage bin at 1500 7th Avenue has not been determined. Huntington, Marshall, Cabell County Sheriff and W.Va. State Police barricaded off a perimeter around the scene for nearly two hours and requested that residents stay in doors.
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