2 dead, one injured in Spotsylvania shooting

Video: Capt. Mike Harvey speaks at the scene.

UPDATE: Laura Reeves has been transferred from Mary Washington Hospital to Georgetown University Hospital for additional surgery on her injured arm, the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office reports.  She is currently in a medically induced coma to allow her body the opportunity to heal. Reeves was struck twice by gunfire on Monday – once in the abdomen and once in the arm.

She remains in critical but stable condition, Capt. Mike Harvey said.

By PAMELA GOULD

A 51-year-old Spotsylvania County woman was in critical condition at Mary Washington Hospital on Monday night after a shooting at her home that left her mother and brother dead.

The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office classified the three shootings as a domestic murder–suicide that apparently began inside the family’s home on South McLaws Place, a gravel lane adjacent to the Chancellorsville battlefield of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Laura Reeves, 51, fled the home after being hit in an elbow by gunfire shortly after 1 p.m., sheriff’s Capt. Mike Harvey said.

Reeves was on the next-door neighbor’s front stoop when she was shot a second time, in the abdomen, Harvey said.

Reeves’ brother, 43-year-old David McVearry Anderson, was apparently responsible for the shootings, but deputies had no motive as of Monday night, Harvey said.

Anderson apparently shot his mother, 75-year-old Jean Anderson, in the driveway of the family home.

He then apparently took his own life, dying in the driveway near his mother, Harvey said.

Those three plus Reeves’ husband lived at the home off State Route 3.

Reeves was conscious as she was taken to Mary Washington Hospital, where she underwent surgery Monday afternoon after her husband arrived from his workplace in Northern Virginia.

She was in critical but stable condition afterward, Harvey said.

Deputies found a rifle and a handgun at the scene but had not yet determined whether both were used in the shootings.

Harvey said some people claimed that David Anderson had slept in a tent behind the family’s home, but deputies had not found a tent as of early evening.

Deputies had never before responded to the home for domestic issues, Harvey said. He also said he had no information that David Anderson had ever had run-ins with law enforcement.

Two neighbors said they weren’t acquainted with that family, though they knew most of the people who lived in the other six houses along South McLaws Place.

Ellen Phillips, who has lived on 8 acres adjoining McLaws Lane for 48 years, said it has always been a peaceful place to live.

“You just don’t expect anything like that out here,” the 81-year-old said. “It’s a very friendly neighborhood.”

Jean Anderson’s killing was the first homicide of the year in Spotsylvania County, Harvey said.

Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972

pgould@freelancestar.com

Photo by Pam Gould

- Reporting by Pam Gould at the scene

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