Residents in Colonial Heritage have been hearing gunshots for years.
They talk about it the way others speak of war zones. Random gunfire late at night, sometimes so heavy they tell their children and grandchildren to stay indoors.
The gated community in Lightfoot boasts an 18-hole world class golf course, a country club with award-winning restaurants, a library, and four tennis courts. Many homes within Colonial Heritage cost upwards of $300,000.
In a community that has its fair share of cribbage games and zumba classes, area residents are now taking up the hobby of guessing types of weapons by the sound of their gunfire.
“There are people in the neighborhood that have guns and can identify the general category of gun being fired,” said Larry Muncy, a resident of Winthrop Circle in Colonial Heritage, who lives near where the gunfire has been coming from, a plot of land near Centerville Road which permits the discharge of firearms on the property due to a technicality in James City County zoning ordinances, he said.
For Charles Wittges, the skill of knowing a gun by its sound is one he never thought he’d need to use again after retiring from the Army after 28 years and four tours in Iraq.
On April 20, two bullets struck Wittges’ home on the 4100 block of Winthrop Circle in Colonial Heritage.
“To me there’s no difference between a bullet hitting my house or hitting someone in the head,” Wittges said. “It was a matter of a few inches to the left it would have hit our headboard.”
Wittges said the random gunfire came to irritate him, but justified it as “the sound of freedom” he fought for overseas — that is, until two bullets hit his home.
“This is a very typical escalation,” Wittges said before calling the technicality allowing the gunfire to continue a shame.
If one of the two rounds had landed two inches to the left, it would have struck just above his headboard, but luckily the bullet traveled down the sidewall of his home, he said.
The other round broke a planter and became embedded in an inside wall, where it remained until James City County Police recovered it for laboratory testing.
Those tests can take months before results are returned, according to James City County Police Department spokeswoman Stephanie Williams.
And while neighbors have an idea of who the culprit is, police say the incident is being actively investigated. Williams could not confirm at the time of publication if there was a person of interest in the case. Wittges made a point of stating he has full faith in the police investigation, saying “they are taking the matter very seriously.”
The plot of land where the gunfire originated is owned by Otto Ripley, but according to letters sent by area residents to Stonehouse district Supervisor Sue Sadler, Ripley’s grandson Aaron Ripley is said to occupy the land.
Aaron Ripley has been previously summoned to Williamsburg-James City County General District Court for his inaction in preventing several of his dogs from getting loose. He was found guilty by the court for owning two dangerous dogs and allowing the dogs to roam free before they mauled two West Highland white terriers, one fatally.
The land Ripley occupies is zoned for agricultural or forestry purposes, a designation which allows for the firing of guns on parts of the plot of land. County ordinance allows for gunfire on the Centerville Road property as long as the shooter is 300 feet from an occupied dwelling and 50 feet away from a subdivision.
Neither Otto Ripley nor Aaron Ripley responded to multiple requests for comment. Representatives for Colonial Heritage also declined to comment for this story.
James City County’s Stonehouse district Supervisor Sue Sadler said she’s concerned about the gunfire and she’s been talking with county and state officials in hopes of finding a resolution.
“I’ve been in contact with Delegate Pogge, we’ll be having some legal consultations to explore our options,” Sadler said. “If nothing can be done locally then we’ll be looking at the state level, but if it gets to that point, it won’t happen until the General Assembly goes into session next year.”
Wittges said he’s been concerned the gunfire could endanger people on his street, adding that he thinks it’s only a matter of time before someone gets shot.
“You don’t really think it’s as bad as it is until bullets come into your house,” Wittges said.
Andrew Harris contributed reporting.
