13-year-old boy and his mother arrested in James City County shooting

Apr 08, 2025

Google Map of shooting location at Rodeway Inn & Suites

Police arrested a 13-year-old boy and his mother in the shooting of a male relative Sunday evening during a fight at the Rodeway Inn & Suites on Richmond Road.

The relative, a 40-year-old man who was not identified, was airlifted to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, where he was in critical condition Monday.

The shooting followed an argument between the boy and the victim, police said. When police arrived at the scene at 5:20 p.m. they found six children and two adults – the victim and the alleged shooter’s mother.

Police charged the 13-year-old boy with five offenses including use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, shooting into an occupied dwelling and reckless handling of a firearm. He was not identified because he is a juvenile.

The boy was jailed at the Merrimac Detention Center for juveniles, police said.

His mother, 35-year-old Stephanie Shackleford, was charged with six counts of child neglect and abuse and six counts of allowing children access to firearms, police said. She is being held in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.

City Council slows down on park during 2026 Williamsburg budget discussion

Williamsburg proposed budget (city illustration)

Donald Trump’s tariff wars loomed over the Williamsburg City Council budget discussion Monday. Against a background of uncertainty and public complaints, council members suggested holding off borrowing $6.5 million for a children’s park and modifying a proposed 10% city admissions tax.

Williamsburg can be impacted by events “well beyond our control,” Mayor Douglas G. Pons said. “It’s changing every day, a week ago J.P. Morgan wasn’t projecting a 60% chance of a recession.”

City Council members asked City Manager Andrew O. Trivette to look at what other expenses could be deferred from his proposed $112.3 million budget, asking him to forecast the impact of cutting the admissions tax in half.

Two budget proposals city council members agreed were necessary were the manager’s recommended 30% hike in water rates to modernize water utilities, and fully funding the joint Williamsburg-James City County School system.

But school funding will hinge on how much James City County approves in its budget, Trivette noted. The city’s construction of a downtown library for the Williamsburg Regional Library may also be impacted by what other localities do.

James City and York counties, the two other regional library members, have said they want to renegotiate funding formulas and leadership of the library. The bid Williamsburg received for its proposed downtown library was for $26 million and the city had estimated it would cost $20 million, Trivette said.

James City County is the largest user of the library system, and its plan to build a library next to its proposed government center near the city line might impact the size of the proposed city library location, he added.

All five council members said the city should not proceed with borrowing $6.5 million for a proposed downtown park this year. Several said the park idea needed more public input and should not be so expensive but agreed to leave a small amount in the budget to continue developing plans.

“There is a lot of space to compromise (on the park) and we should give that time…we don’t need to borrow that money right now,” said Councilwoman Stacy E. Kern-Scheerer.

On the admissions tax, opposed by Colonial Williamsburg, council members discussed applying it in different amounts based on the type of event being taxed, in addition to looking at lowering the rate altogether.

City Council is not scheduled to approve the budget until May, and there will be public hearings at the council’s regular meeting this Thursday, a work session on May 5 and the May 8 regular meeting, when the budget should be approved.

In outlining his budget, the city manager noted that city water rates had not increased since 2018. Had they been revised regularly, they would have been close to the catch-up rate he is proposing of $1.59 per 1,000 gallons.

The new rate will raise the average home water bill by $6.36 a month, and the median commercial bill by $28.62, Trivette said. He said Williamsburg would still have the lowest water rate in Hampton Roads.

Trivette said he proposed the new fees instead of raising property taxes to handle two challenges facing the city –$27.6 million in upgrades to its aging water system, and a dip in the capital budget balance caused by lower budget surpluses and slower sales tax growth.

His budget would cut $30 million in capital spending over the next five years, reduce operating costs by 2% and keep nine employee positions vacant through June.

Guest Opinion

Given the current political turmoil, and since it’s Lent, we invited a retired priest who writes on the intersection of politics and religion to opine: What would Jesus do? Click here to read it in our opinion section.