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By Bob Weaver
Gunshots fired into a truck and house and a tossed hand grenade during Sunday's early morning hours was just the start of problems for the Norma Joy Freshour family on Nobe Road.
Thursday afternoon, neighbors are claiming they saw subjects approaching the Freshour house with sheets over their head, after which the house was engulfed in fire.
The Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department received a call at 4:15 p.m., with the house fully involved when they arrived. The family was not at home.
State Police have charged a Big Bend man, James Forrest Blankenship, 25, of 2554 Big Root Run Road, for his alleged part in the Sunday morning incident.
Blankenship is being held in Central Regional Jail, charged with wanton endangerment, destruction of property and conspiracy to commit a felony. Bond has been posted at $45,000.
A criminal complaint regarding the Sunday morning incident says the Freshour family stated, "James Blankenship and Charles Metz drove by their residence and shot a 1994 Chevy truck three times with a 12-gage shotgun, causing in excess of $2,500 damage."
The complaint says Charles Metz pointed a gun out the passenger side of a white 1994 Subaru, the vehicle was allegedly being driven by James Blankenship. Police found a spent Winchester 12-gage shell at the scene.
TFC J. B. Kincaid went to the Blankenship residence on Big Root to discover a vehicle matching the description, owned by Brandi Cottrill. During a search of the vehicle, officer Kincaid discovered what appeared to a matching second shell casing.
The criminal complaint says both Blankenship and Metz stated they "didn't know what happened, they had just gotten home from work ..."
Trooper Kincaid returned to the Freshour residence following a report by Norma Joy Freshour she had discovered a hand grenade in the yard.
State Police said the device is commonly known as a "pineapple grenade." A West Virginia State Police explosive expert was contacted, to discover the grenade was inactive.
Metz has yet to be arrested for his alleged role in the incident, while WV Fire Marshall Jason Baltic is investigating the cause of the fire that destroyed the Freshour house and its contents Thursday.
In 2008, the Freshour family residence burned to the ground on Big Root. Norma Joy Freshour told the Herald at that time that the fire was set, but no arrests were made.
See earlier Herald photos and stories
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