The Public Safety Forum (SAFETY)

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Botetourt home intruder likely drunk, police say
Botetourt County officials said the homeowner would not face charges.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3334

Audio: 911 call of shooting






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Click the play button to hear the 911 call made by Jody Hoover, in which he can be heard shooting Jerry Lee Jones Jr in what the Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom determined was a justifiable homicide.

Editor's note: This audio represents close to 13 minutes of conversation between Hoover, his wife and a 911 dispatcher. Hoover hands the phone to his wife while he retrieves his gun.

Other voices heard include those of Jerry Lee Jones Jr, and radio traffic from deputies being sent to the scene. The dispatcher can also be heard relaying information to deputies.

Portions of the recording, including long stretches of silence or inactivity, have been edited out.

Some may find the audio disturbing.


The sister of a man who was fatally shot after breaking into a Botetourt County home said Tuesday that she believes her brother was drunk and confused about where he was.

Jerry Lee Jones Jr.'s blood-alcohol content was more than four times the legal limit for driving when he died, Botetourt County Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said Tuesday.

Jody Hoover, 46, shot and killed the 35-year-old Jones after Jones broke into the Hoover family's house in the Nace area of the county Friday night.

Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom and the sheriff's office reviewed the evidence, including the recording of a 911 call made by Hoover, and decided not to charge the homeowner, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

Authorities didn't release the men's names until Tuesday because Jones' identity had to be confirmed through fingerprints and Hoover was still under investigation, Branscom said.

Jones' sister, Margaret Jones, said he had been depressed and was drinking because Friday was their late father's birthday.

Jones was in a vehicle with a friend, Joe Harper, but when Jones became violent, the friend dropped him off near the Hoover home, the news release said.

Harper lived in the area, and Margaret Jones said she believes her brother thought he was at Harper's house when he was banging on the Hoovers' door.

"I'm sorry for the family, but I don't think he went there to hurt them," she said. "He couldn't have known what he was doing."

In the 911 recording, Jody Hoover calls the sheriff's office and tells a dispatcher that there is a "strange man outside our home, and he's hollerin' and he's crying out. I don't know what's going on with him."

Hoover hands the phone to his wife while he gets his double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun.

Jones can be heard yelling and repeatedly banging on the back sliding glass door.

Hoover's wife tells the dispatcher that the man is talking about Vietnam and 1969, and that he asked Jody Hoover for the date.

Hoover talks to the man from inside. "I don't want to hurt you," he says. "I can't let you in.

"Please, just go away. Please."

About seven and a half minutes after Hoover calls 911, Jones shatters the glass door with a wrought-iron chair and tries to come in.

Hoover told authorities that he shot at Jones twice. Deputies arrived at the house as the shots were fired. Jones was pronounced dead at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Jones lived about two miles from the Hoovers but did not know them, Sprinkle said.

In 2005, Jones was found guilty in Botetourt County of brandishing a firearm and in 1999 and 2000 he was found guilty in Roanoke County of driving under the influence.

Hoover's mother-in-law and two sons were also at the house.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/201127