WASHINGTON — It has been a year since a man shot a local store clerk twice in the head in order to steal a cold medicine, and police are still searching for the gunman.
The victim, a mother of three, survived the brutal attack.
On March 8, 2014, a gunman entered the Fas Mart on Route 3 and Brock Road in Spotsylvania just before 3 a.m. and shot the clerk, Kelly Wood, in the head.
The suspect had asked Wood to get him a smokeless tobacco product and when she turned her back on the suspect, he pulled a handgun out of his pocket of his coat and he shot Wood in the back of the head.
“There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he intended to kill this clerk,” says Captain Jeff Pearce with Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office.
Pearce says the man did not take any cash. But what he did take was an Ephedrine display cabinet.
Before leaving the store, the suspect shot Wood again — this time in the face.
“His intent was to kill her to get away with the Ephedrine,” Pearce says.
Ephedrine is used to make methamphetamine.
“We believe that this suspect was taking Ephedrine in order to manufacture illicit drugs,” he adds.
Wood has undergone multiple surgeries since the incident.
“There’s going to be some issues that are going to be with her physically for the rest of her life,” Pearce says.
He says the sheriff’s office has worked with other law enforcement agencies on this case, including federal and state agencies.
The suspect is described as a 25- to 35-year-old white man with a goatee. He is between 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs between 160 and 170 pounds. According to video surveillance, he was wearing a dark hoodie sweatshirt and jeans at the time of the shooting.
“We feel that somewhere out there, someone knows who this person is. They may be afraid to come forward because of his violent nature,” says Pearce.
A $10,000 reward is being offered in this case and anyone with information is being asked to call police or the Spotsylvania Crime Solvers at 540 582-5822. You don’t have to give your name you can remain anonymous.
He adds that the suspect could have changed his appearance in the last year.
