A Lee-Davis High School student faces possible life in prison if convicted of an ax attack on a fellow student.
Hanover Commonwealth's Attorney Ramon E. "Trip" Chalkley declined yesterday to identify the 15-year-old, who is charged with aggravated malicious wounding in the incident. But he said he intends to try the youth as an adult and will seek to have the case transferred to Circuit Court.
Aggravated malicious wounding carries from 20 years to life in prison, but there is wide discretion for judges to handle a juvenile charged as an adult.
The attack Friday evening at Tractor Supply Co. in the Hanover Village Shopping Center across Mechanicsville Turnpike from the high school was captured on a video camera, Chalkley said. The only camera visible in the store is directly above a display of axes, hatchets and splitting mauls.
In the video, Chalkley said the attacker appears to make one stroke with a single-bladed ax toward the victim, also 15, who was facing his assailant.
A rubberized strip used to prevent cuts from the sharp edge of the ax was removed before the attack and recovered nearby, according to authorities.
The victim has been released from the hospital and is staying with his family, authorities said. The wound to his face extends from the victim's temple to his jawbone, according to officials.
Hanover Sheriff's Capt. Mike Trice yesterday described the incident as a flare-up between two people who had exchanged words.
"We hope people will let the law take its course," he said.
Hanover County sheriff's deputies today will continue a second day of increased visibility at Lee-Davis. "It's a precaution in reaction to calls we were getting from parents," Trice said.
A court hearing for the alleged attacker was postponed yesterday because he was not represented by a lawyer, Chalkley said. Another hearing is scheduled today in Hanover Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com
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