Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Charles Steadman Sponaugle Opens Fire on Relatives Over Property Beef
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 12:56 pm
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We're not quite sure what the beef was about -- other than it was stupid. But Sponaugle had been saying for months that he planned to kill his own son, Charles Steadman Jr.
Sponaugle lived in a trailer home on the property. Steadman lived with his finacee, Shannon Miller, in the main house. What finally set the father off was as mundane as it was tragic.
Relatives say deputies responded to a domestic call at about 2 p.m. on Sunday. Over the years, they'd received two dozen calls about the property, but most had been four basic things like loud music. The deputies thought that everything had been cooled down and they left.
Then Sponaugle got mad when someone raised a garage door on the property. A few hours later, Sponaugle saw his relatives pushing the shell of a car into the garage to work on. That's when he emerged from his trailer and started shooting.
The 52-year-old Sponaugle shot and killed his son, Charles Jr., in addition to Mark Cooper Jr., his nephew. Also wounded were two other nephews, Jason Steadman and Jerrell Steadman, and Kitty and Mark Cooper Sr. All but Jason have been released from the hospital.
Others at the property called 911. Deputies arrived to find that Sponaugle had released his pit bull to attack the deputies. Sponaugle opened fire on the cops as well.
The deputies shot back, killing both Sponaugle and the dog. The shoot-out was over just 18 seconds after the officers arrived.
See our last tale from Gooberville: Skyler Smith Can Now Legally Pretend to Be a War Hero.
Tags: Gooberville, Virginia
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