[WV] Carla Jo's December

...She said her husband had fired two rounds while she was standing nearby. When [recently "resigned" St. Albans Police Officer] Ronald Chapman picked up a revolver and put it to his head, Carla Jo Chapman said she left...

FORMER ST. ALBANS OFFICER ARRESTED IN MILTON
wvgazette.com
By Rusty Marks rustymarks@wvgazette.com
December 31, 2009
[Excerpts] A St. Albans police officer who resigned early in December was arrested Monday in Milton. Ronald Mark Chapman, 43, of Milton, was charged with wanton endangerment after allegedly trying to kill himself in his Cardinal Drive home, according to a criminal complaint on file in Cabell County Magistrate Court... Chapman resigned from the St. Albans police force on Dec. 4 during the course of an internal investigation... [St. Albans Police Chief Joe] Crawford would not say why Chapman was being investigated, saying the investigation was a personnel issue... According to the criminal complaint, Chapman's wife, Carla Jo Chapman, told police that Ronald Chapman had a .45 caliber pistol and had threatened to shoot himself. She said her husband had fired two rounds while she was standing nearby. When Ronald Chapman picked up a revolver and put it to his head, Carla Jo Chapman said she left and went across the street to a neighbor's house, according to the criminal complaint. She and the neighbors told police they then heard another shot... Police allegedly found two .45 caliber shell casings in Chapman's bedroom, and an apparent bullet hole in the window screen. Police believe the bullet fired through the window hit the house across the street. According to the criminal complaint, police recovered six guns and ammunition from the house. Chapman was charged with three felony counts of wanton endangerment, and a misdemeanor count of possessing a firearm in violation of a domestic violence protection order. He faces one to five years in prison for each wanton endangerment count, and up to a year in prison on the firearms charge... [Full article here]

EXCERPTS FROM ONLINE COMMENTS:

If he had really wanted to kill himself, he would have. Shooting through a window and into a house across the street is not attempting suicide. This jerk should have been fired when he was first charged with domestic violence. Cops with guns who have been charged with dv are dangerous. But all too often the prosecutor ends up dismissing the charges for some reason or the other, or the wife fails to show up to testify, and the guy goes right out the door and back on the streets with a gun on his side...

He has an active domestic violence protective order against him and he had six firearms in the house. I believe that makes it a Federal case...

When someone threatens to kill himself and then shoots through a window and also into a wall, its not an attempt of suicide. Its called rage. He had obviously disregarded the lives of anyone else in the house across the street while still having reagrd for his own life. He's not suicidal he was mad as hell and didnt care who he might hurt. Charge him with everything you can. Overcharge him even. He deserves to be in jail for a long time...

Under the Lautenberg Ammendment he cannot legally have firearms or ammunition with a domestic violence protection order in effect. He's screwed but he brought it upon himself...

you would think that a cop would know how to kill himself...
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