News
Four hurt, gunman killed after standoff
Deputies arrive to find hostage situation
Journal Photo by Paul Garber
A patrol car sits outside the house at 240 Shuford Everhart Road where Roy Roseberry was reported to have been holding hostages.
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Published: May 9, 2008
Updated: 05/09/2008 08:41 pm
LEXINGTON
A simmering dispute between neighbors exploded into violence Wednesday night, leaving one man dead and four people wounded after a three-hour standoff with Davidson County sheriff's deputies.
Deputies fatally shot a man who had been holding several people hostage at a house on Shuford Everhart Road. Authorities would not release the names of the dead gunman or the four people who were wounded, nor would they release the conditions of the four victims.
Family members of the gunman said that he was Aubrey Roy Roseberry, 58, who had a wife, two children and two grandchildren. He operated a concrete business on his property at 204 Shuford Everhart Road.
Next door at 240 Shuford Everhart Road lived Matthew and Tabitha Spivey, and that is where Roseberry was holding Tabitha Spivey and her two children -- a daughter, 17, and a son, 13 -- family members and neighbors said.The daughter's boyfriend, Daniel Spainhour, 20, was also shot, said his mother, Charlton Spainhour. Daniel Spainhour escaped from the hostage scene and ran to a neighbor's house to call 911.
Spainhour was in good condition yesterday at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, a spokeswoman said. The conditions of the other three victims weren't immediately available.
The incident started about 9:15 p.m. at the Spiveys' house east of Lexington. Authorities had responded to the scene of a shooting.
As deputies neared the house, they heard gunshots and determined that Spainhour had fled to a nearby house.
Negotiators began talking with the gunman, who first released the teenage girl and then the mother. The 13-year-old boy remained inside, and the gunman had threatened to harm the boy, according to a statement from the Davidson County Sheriff's Office.
As deputies moved to rescue the boy, the gunman appeared at a glass door with a handgun. Just before that point, deputies had heard gunfire inside the house.
When the gunman attempted flee through the front door, deputies shot him before going inside to rescue the boy, who was found in a bedroom with a serious gunshot wound, the sheriff's office said.
The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. Officials would not say how many deputies were involved nor release their names.
Charlton Spainhour, Daniel's mother, said that the trouble began earlier Wednesday when Roseberry threatened some painters who were painting a barn behind the Spiveys' house. He also threatened the son, pacing the property line with a gun and asking, "Are you scared?"
That had prompted Charlton Spainhour to call the sheriff's office, but when deputies arrived at the house, they said that there was nothing they could do, she said.
"All the deputies could tell us is ‘Our hands are tied. Our hands are tied. There's nothing we can do," Charlton Spainhour said. "I asked them, ‘What's he going to have to do? Is he going to have to kill someone?'"
Sheriff David Grice confirmed that deputies did go to the house earlier that afternoon, but he knew nothing about Roseberry's having threatened people with a gun. The deputies had been responding to the scene of a reported dispute, Grice said.
He said that if deputies had seen that Roseberry was threatening people with a gun, they would have arrested him.
The incident Wednesday night wasn't Roseberry's first brush with the law. He was arrested on charges connected to a fight on Aug. 4, 2006, involving a Jeffrey Mark White of Thomasville and Matt Spivey on Spivey's property.
According to court records, Roseberry was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats, and second-degree trespassing.
Roseberry was accused of telling White, "I will kill you" and firing three shots from a rifle into the ground a few feet near White, then jumping a fence between the two properties and assaulting White in the upper arm with the gunstock.
On Jan. 18, 2007, in Davidson District Court , Roseberry was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and communicating threats.
Judge Dale Graham gave him a 120-day suspended sentence and put him on probation for four years. The judge also ordered Roseberry to stay away from White and Matt Spivey and to stay off the Spiveys' property.
However, Roseberry appealed, and those charges were dismissed on Feb. 4 in Davidson Superior Court after witnesses refused to appear to testify. Spivey and White had been subpoenaed in that case, according to court records.
White did not appear in court because he was in a state prison on a cocaine-trafficking conviction.
Roy Roseberry's older brother, Ronnie Roseberry, said he wished that he could have talked to his brother Wednesday night, but deputies would not allow it.
Ronnie Roseberry said he last talked to his brother more than 10 years ago when Roy Roseberry lived on Snider Avenue. At that time, Roy Roseberry had a neighbor who irritated him by always calling the police on him, his brother said.
Then one night after Roy Roseberry had been drinking, he grabbed his gun and stood in the driveway, firing his gun into the air.
Ronnie Roseberry said that his brother may have done some crazy things, but he wasn't crazy. He was a good man, his brother said, but the dispute with the Spiveys was too much for him to take.
"It just pushed him to the edge," he said.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.
■ Jim Sparks can be reached at 727-7301 or at jsparks@wsjournal.com.
■ Journal reporter Lisa Boone-Wood contributed to this article.
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