Chesterfield County

4200 Richwine Road, Chesterfield County, VA

1:00 AM

Gunshot

Argument

Chesterfield man charged in early-morning slaying
By Mark Bowes
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Thursday,December 18, 2008

An alcohol-fueled argument apparently sparked yesterday’s early-morning shooting death of an Amelia County man who was partying with friends at a Chesterfield County home, police said.
Sean K. France, 37, of the 15400 block of Elm Cottage Lane in Amelia was found dead with a gunshot wound to his upper body when police responded at about 1 a.m. to a home in the 4200 block of Richwine Road, near Belmont Road and Chippenham Parkway.

Chesterfield police arrested an occupant of the house, Robert L. Wade, 32, and charged him with second-degree murder and felony use of a firearm.

“It’s undetermined at this time what exactly led to the shooting,” Chesterfield police Capt. Robert Skowron said yesterday.

Skowron said France, Wade and two other friends had gathered at the home to play pool, and all four were intoxicated at the time of the shooting.

“Alcohol was certainly a factor,” Skowron said. “They’re friends, they’re partying, and we know there was some type of argument.”

But investigators don’t believe France and Wade had come to blows. “There was not a fight,” Skowron said.

With France’s death, Chesterfield has recorded 11 homicides for the year, exceeding last year’s count by one.