On June 27, 2005, Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Lieutenant James ’Bo’ Weaver, 59, was killed in Petersburg, Virginia while transporting a 15-year-old male, Joe Thomas, from a court appearance back to the Crater Juvenile Detention Center. A struggle occurred on Tollgate Lane at about 1:30 p.m., during which the teenager gained control of Lieutenant Weaver’s service weapon. After being forced to drive to a residential cul-de-sac, both exited the vehicle and the teenager fired multiple times, striking Weaver in the abdomen and back. Weaver was airlifted to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and died that evening.

The suspect fled, hid in a nearby apartment, and surrendered after a roughly 90-minute standoff following a call from his father. He was charged as an adult with capital murder, use of a firearm, abduction, felony escape, grand larceny, and possession of a firearm as a juvenile. On June 13, 2006, Joe Thomas II, then 16, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and six other charges in Petersburg Circuit Court.

Who knew Lieutenant Weaver or has information about the events that day?