VA- Man shot in leg by deputy

6-1-2008 Virginia:

Police said a Christiansburg man was shot in the leg by a Montgomery County sheriff's deputy Friday night.

The deputy was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Donald Edward Lovern when Lovern wielded a knife, said Captain Barry O'Rourke of the Christiansburg Police Department. The deputy then shot Lovern, O'Rourke said.

Lovern, 43, was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and the deputy was not injured, police said.

Carilion spokesman Eric Earnhart on Saturday declined to confirm if Lovern was a patient at Roanoke Memorial. On Saturday afternoon, O'Rourke said he did not know Lovern's condition or if the man still was in the hospital.

The shooting occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Friday in the Red Oak Mobile Home Park in Christiansburg, O'Rourke said.

Lovern's sister, Shirley Nester, said the family does not know anything about his condition.

Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Whitt said it is the department's policy not to release the name of a deputy involved in a shooting while an investigation is under way. Whitt did say the deputy will be placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The warrant the deputy attempted to serve to Lovern was for a charge of forcible sodomy, O'Rourke said. According to online court records, Lovern has a pending forcible sodomy case that will be heard June 18 in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Lovern is listed on the Virginia sex offender registry. He pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy and child molesting in 2000. ..News Source.. by Courtney Cutright