Staunton, Virginia

From the Waynesboro News Virginian of September 24, 2005

Prosecutor: Self-defense believed in shooting

A Staunton man hospitalized with a bullet in his back early Friday had been shot when his street gang attacked an armed victim, authorities have tentatively ruled.

Police who found Joseph Antonio Coakley, 24, sprawled near downtown Staunton at the intersection of Lewis and Baldwin streets about 2 a.m. initially thought he was drunk in public. They soon realized he had been shot.

As doctors listed Coakley in critical condition hours later, investigators had 26-year-old Jeremy Kyle Bryant, of Staunton, in custody as the shooter. They charged him with carrying a concealed weapon because he lacked a permit, and released him.

Investigators didn’t charge him as the shooter, however.

That’s because Bryant, surrounded by a group of men at the intersection of Fillmore and Frederick streets, pulled out a concealed pistol after someone else brandished a knife, Staunton prosecutor Ray Robinson said.

“From what I understand, it was self-defense,” Robinson said. “It was apparently some gang members that had been harassing Bryant.”