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Frightened residents and shoppers react to shooting outside Michaels Arts & Crafts store near Spotsylvania Mall. Date published: 10/5/2002
Motorists, shoppers and passers-by were angry and shaken yesterday after a woman was shot outside the Michaels Arts and Crafts store near Spotsylvania Mall. Police and rescue personnel swarmed to the store after the 2:30 p.m. shooting, clearing away pedestrians and putting up yellow police tape to secure the site. The incident here bore a close resemblance to a spate of shootings in Montgomery County, Md., this week that killed five people. Area residents were stunned to find themselves facing the same kind of senseless tragedy that has gripped the Washington area. "They should hang whoever did this," shouted one man as he wheeled his silver sedan out of the parking lot after hearing of the shooting. "Forget this trial business, just hang 'em." That sentiment was shared by many yesterday who happened upon the scene at the small strip of shops adjacent to the mall on State Route 3. "You just never think that you might die from buying silk flowers," said Kris Chew of Fredericksburg. She was in the store at the time of the shooting but didn't know what had happened. Customers were kept inside for at least an hour and a half. "When I came outside I thought Haverty's [furniture store next door] must have been on fire, because there was a fire truck in front of it," Chew said, clutching a bag of supplies to be used for a family reunion. "What's happened to this world?" she asked, tears in her eyes. Wearing an orange vest, Samuel Doehler was standing along Route 3 collecting donations for an African mission trip when the shooting occurred nearby. "I didn't see it happen," he said. "But I did see her lying there. It was pretty awful." Later yesterday, a string of vehicles snaked in and out of the parking lot as drivers tried to find out what happened. Television news choppers buzzed overhead. "This is just crazy," said Jimmy Harper of Warsaw as he sat in his blue pickup after buying an angle grinder from Sears at the mall. "Nothing surprises me anymore." One woman was dropping her teenage daughter off at work at the mall when she learned what happened. "You make sure you don't go anywhere outside that mall. You stay in the store," she implored.
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