11-year-old shot, killed in Fifeville

Tasha Kates, Media General News Service
Published: June 3, 2008

A Charlottesville man turned himself in to police Tuesday after an early-morning shooting in Fifeville left an 11-year-old boy dead.
Around 12:15 a.m., police responded to 330 Sixth 1/2 St. S.W. for a report of shots fired. Rueben Lewis III, 23, had been shot, and the body of 11-year-old Aziz Damar Booth lay in the kitchen. The boy had suffered a fatal gunshot wound.
Later that morning, 27-year-old Waverly “Eddie” Whitlock turned himself into police. He has been charged with capital murder, robbery, malicious wounding, abduction, entering a house with the intent to commit a violent felony, possession of a firearm by a felon and four counts of use or display of a firearm in committing a felony.
Police have not revealed many details about the incident, including whether investigators retrieved the gun used in the incident or if anything had been stolen from the home.
“Now you can imagine this is a very complex crime scene and there is still work to do,” Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said at a news conference Tuesday.
Authorities have not confirmed a motive for the shooting, but Longo said there was probable cause to charge Whitlock with robbery. Whitlock is being held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
Aziz, whose last day as a sixth-grader at Walker Upper Elementary School would have been today, lived in the home with his mother, Myra Booth. Longo met with Booth at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where her boyfriend Lewis was listed in good condition as of Tuesday evening. Booth could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
An autopsy is being performed on Aziz.
“Obviously, she is just heartbroken and shattered,” Longo said.
It does not appear that the shootings were a random act. Longo said Lewis and Whitlock are acquainted, but he didn’t elaborate on the relationship.
According to police, Whitlock lives in the 300 block of Sixth 1/2 St. S.W., the same block as the Booths. A more specific address, however, was unavailable.
Within the last 10 years, Whitlock has been convicted of both misdemeanor and felony charges in Albemarle and Charlottesville, according to court documents. In 2001, he was sentenced in Charlottesville Circuit Court to six years in prison after pleading guilty to robbery and use or display of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
During the 2000 incident, Whitlock forced his way into a car, took $20 from the driver, then rifled through the glove compartment and trunk in search of more money, according to court records. The driver was unhurt.
At 17 years old, Whitlock completed a 22-week program called the Freestate ChalleNGe Academy. The military-modeled, residential program is meant for older teenagers struggling in school. The voluntary program is associated with the Maryland National Guard.
In a letter enclosed with Whitlock’s court records, then-lead counselor Maj. M.R. Graff wrote that he became “a model student in our structured environment.”
“He longed for inclusion in a ‘family’ that was [intact] and functioning ‘normally,’ something provided here at ChalleNGe,” Graff wrote. “Professionally I suspect leaving the Academy was extremely traumatic for him, and in some respects viewed as another [loss] in his life.”
Graff wrote that Whitlock liked to help others and he did not believe Whitlock would intentionally harm someone. As a cadet, Graff said, Whitlock earned his GED and was selected for a leadership program.
Tasha Kates is a staff writer at the Daily Progress in Charlottesville.