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Woman held at gunpoint fears for her life after case against teen is dropped

Posted at 6:11 PM, Aug 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-17 16:28:04-04

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- A Colonial Heights woman says she is fearful of her life after a juvenile court judge dismissed the case against a teen accused of robbing her at gunpoint.

Laura Walker said the incident happened during the early morning hours of June 21, 2014, when Walker and her 6-year-old daughter were delivering newspapers in Colonial Heights.

Walker stopped to put a newspaper on a front porch, but she says she was met with a gun to her head. There were a total of four suspects.

As she made her way to her car, she said the 16-year-old suspect who had pointed the gun at her, grabbed her shirt, and in the process tore loose sutures from a recent surgery.

"Ten days before I had a double mastectomy," she said.

Walker said that as she sped away to escape, three shots were fired. Two of the bullets hit her car.

The suspects were ultimately picked up and arrested in Chesterfield County. Three of the suspects were charged, convicted and each sentenced to about a decade in jail.

The 16-year-old faced attempted robbery and two other charges and plead guilty.

He stayed in detention for about a year, before being placed on probation.

Now, at age 18, he went before a Colonial Heights Juvenile Court Judge, where prosecutors asked the judge to keep the charges as felonies and his defense lawyer requested misdemeanor charges.

The judge, instead, dismissed the case and the teen left the courthouse a free man.

"I can understand why the victim could be upset under these circumstances but again the judge's job is really to consider the rehabilitation of the defendant, but also the safety of the public and sometimes it's hard to balance those things and people don't always agree with the result," said CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone.

Brewer said she is concerned for her and her daughter's safety.

"Now he's out and he can get revenge any time he wants to and there's nothing to protect me or anybody else in this community," she added.