All News & Blogs

E-mail Alerts

Shooting victim in induced coma
Spotsylvania shooting victim in medically induced coma one day after murder-suicide deaths of her mother and brother.

Date published: 9/19/2012

BY PAMELA GOULD

The Spotsylvania County woman who survived a shooting at her home Monday was in a medically induced coma Tuesday to allow her body time to heal, Spotsylvania sheriff's Capt. Mike Harvey said.

Laura Reeves, 51, of South McLaws Place remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday. She was transferred from Mary Washington Hospital to Georgetown University Hospital for additional surgery on her injured arm, Harvey said.

Reeves was struck twice by gunfire on Monday--once in the abdomen and once in the arm--during a shooting that started in the home she shared with her husband, mother and brother.

Deputies have still not been able to determine the motive for the shootings, which they say were apparently committed by Reeves' brother, 43-year-old David McVearry Anderson.

Deputies received a report of the shooting at 1:19 p.m. on Monday.

They arrived at the home, which is adjacent to the Chancellorsville battlefield of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, to find Reeves injured and her mother, 75-year-old Jean Anderson, and her brother dead in the driveway.

David Anderson is believed to have shot his sister in the arm inside the home and then followed her when she fled to a next-door neighbor's home and shot her again.

He apparently killed his mother in the driveway of the family's home before taking his own life, Harvey said.

Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com