Va. Shooting Victims Identified

APPOMATTOX, Va. Jan. 20, 2009— -- Authorities have identified the victims of a mass killing in Appomattox, Va., as four adults, three teenagers and a 4-year-old.

Christopher Bryan Speight, 39, who is suspected of the killings -- and of downing a police helicopter with a high-powered rifle -- has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, with further charges pending, state police said.

Speight is being held at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Lynchburg, Va., without bond, police said.

Officials continued to secure the crime scene -- where they had found explosives -- and investigate Speight's motives for the killings this evening, authorities said.

The victims' bodies are at the state medical examiner's office in Roanoke, Va., where their causes of death will be determined, police said.

The victims are Ronald I. Scruggs, 16, of Dillwyn, Va.; as well as Emily A. Quarles, 15; Karen Quarles, 43; Jonathan L. Quarles, 43; Dwayne S. Sipe, 38; Lauralee Sipe, 38; Joshua Sipe, 4; and Morgan L. Dobyns, 15, all of Appomattox, Va., according to a release from the Virginia State Police.

Speight surrendered peacefully at 7:10 a.m. today after being surrounded by police in the woods all night.

He was wearing a bulletproof vest and camoflage pants when he walked out of the woods unarmed.

He was arrested by the SWAT team that had encircled a swath of thick woods two miles long and 1,000 feet wide where he had been hiding.

After taking Speight into custody, police announced that the bomb squad and specially trained dogs were searching the house and the area around it for explosives.

By the afternoon, police said the bomb squad was disposing of explosive material at the house, but it wasn't clear whether the material simply had been found in the house or whether the house had been booby trapped.

Sheriff O. Wilson Staples told the Associated Press there were a "multitude of devices inside and outside the house."

During the hunt for Speight on Tuesday, a police helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing after being fired upon. It was later determined that the chopper had been hit seven times. One bullet went through a rotor. At least one pierced the fuel cell and another went through the back seat. The pilot is said to be fine, but a little shaken up by being fired at.

Police also were searching the woods for the high-powered rifle Speight allegedly used.

The manhunt began about noon Tuesday when Tammy Randolph was driving near her home and saw what she thought was a drunk man in the middle of the road.

She got out of her vehicle and approached the man who was in shorts and a sweat shirt. The hood was over his head and covered in blood. Her mother, Joyce Randolph, got out of the vehicle as her daughter called 9-1-1. Joyce said the man, who looked to be in his late 20's, was moaning.

The police dispatcher asked Randolph to go to the house and look for help. As she went up the driveway she found the dead body of a teenage male next to a car. The dispatcher told her to get back to her car immediately.

When police arrived, with sirens blaring, shots were fired from the house.

Staples said four victims were found outside the house and three more were found inside the house. He did not identify the victims, but said that Speight lived in the house.