More charges filed against Mount

Published 7:12 pm Tuesday, December 22, 2015

More charges have been filed against a 51-year-old Dillwyn man who police say shot at another vehicle while chasing it through Buckingham and Cumberland counties on Dec. 2.

In addition to the original charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle, Kenneth Mount is now charged with a second count of shooting into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm while in a motor vehicle, damaging property and reckless driving, according to Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) spokesman Lee Walker.

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“After several discussions with the Cumberland County Commonwealth Attorney Patricia D. Scales, DGIF has been instructed to proceed with [additional] charges today in

Cumberland County on Mount. All of the charges have been served at this time. Mount was released on bail after being served,” Walker said.

Twenty-seven-year-old Darwin Velasquez of Prospect is charged with hunting from a vehicle, trespassing, assault and driving with a suspended license in connection with the incident that led to the chase and gunfire.

According to Walker, Velasquez allegedly shot at a deer from the roadway. He said the deer was standing in proximity of Mount’s son.

“The subject that fired the shot from the road then drives off and leaves the scene. He then returns later with his brother to look for the deer. The hunter on the private property calls his father who is the landowner. The landowner and his son go to the road where the shot came from to investigate,” Walker said.

He said once Velasquez returned to the scene, “An altercation occurred between the landowner and the individual who appears to have fired the shot at the deer.”

Mount allegedly retrieved a rifle from his vehicle and displayed it, Walker said.

“The landowner pursues the vehicle through Buckingham and Cumberland counties. The landowner appears to have fired one shot that struck the back window of the fleeing vehicle, breaking the back window and then entering the interior. Investigators are still inspecting the vehicle for any additional damage from shots fired. The landowner ends the pursuit just before entering the Farmville town limits and then turns around. The individual who shot the deer from the road called the police for assistance.”

“The call originally came to us. Once we determined it happened in Buckingham, we called them,” said Capt. Dennis Ownby of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’ve got impacts all over the place and they go through [the vehicle]. There’s probably four or five just on the windshield,” Ownby said of the shots that struck the truck.

Mount has a Feb. 25 court date set in Cumberland County General District Court.