Charges weighed in Whaleyville store shooting

Posted to: Crime Suffolk
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A view of the J&L Food Mart in the rural Whaleyville community of Suffolk where a man was shot dead early June 21 by the owner of the store. (Steve Earley | The Virginian-Pilot)

Ernest S. Roop was fatally shot by the store's owner during a burglary June 21.

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• Warrant: Man shot in Suffolk convenience store had a knife
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By Kristin Davis
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 3, 2009

SUFFOLK

The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has begun its review of the deadly shooting of a burglar by a Whaleyville store owner.

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Will Jamerson said his office received the Suffolk police investigation into the June 21 incident Thursday afternoon. "It will be thorough," Jamerson said. "I can't tell you how long it will take."

The owner of J&L Food Mart, James H. Durden Jr., shot 38-year-old Ernest Scott Roop four times through a window after a monitor near his bed alerted him to the 4 a.m. break-in.

Durden, 46, told police that Roop pointed something at him from inside the store.

Roop did not have a gun. Search warrants show that he carried a knife and sheath, but a city spokeswoman would not say whether he was holding it at the time of the shooting. A folding knife and a crowbar were also recovered from the scene.

Charges for the fatal shooting could range from murder to manslaughter to none at all.

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Protecting ones own...

Submitted by scs on Fri, 07/03/2009 at 11:50 am.

The store owner was just protecting his own. Charges should not even be thought about. Do you really think the owner should have taken the time to go in and ask the perp if he had a weapon or if he planned to steal? NO. He did the right thing! If we really have rights as our Constitution says we do there would be less crime because these perps would probably think twice before commiting a crime.