Man shot at Home Depot had criminal and mental health history, court records show
It's Jan. 30 and yes, snow is back on the calendar this weekend. An update on the Home Depot shooting, plus what it costs to handle the Democrat's April referendum to restore gerrymandering.
The man fatally shot by James City County police after stabbing a woman Wednesday afternoon had a history of assault convictions and had been involuntarily committed to mental treatment in North Carolina, Williamsburg Watch has learned.
He was identified by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s office as Stephen Thomas Ball, 33, from Newport, North Carolina.
Ball randomly attacked a woman shopper leaving the Ross Department store off Mooretown Road on Wednesday afternoon and fled to the nearby Home Depot, according to police.
James City County police were first on the scene and were directed by store employees to the tool department, where the man grabbed a claw hammer and charged two officers.
James City Police Chief Mark Jamison said police ordered the man to drop the hammer several times. “The individual refused,” he said.
“He lifted the hammer over his head and aggressively ran towards the officers,” who shot him several times, Jamison said.
Our North Carolina correspondent (and journalist daughter Lexi Solomon) found court records showing Ball submitted an Alford plea in March 2020 in Craven County court to charges of assault, inflicting serious injury and assault on a female for attacking a woman a year earlier. An Alford plea means he acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him but wasn’t admitting to guilt.
He was placed on a year of supervised probation. The judge ordered him to continue with mental health treatments and take prescribed medications as ordered. His address was listed as “homeless” at that time.
Five years later, on June 5, a judge committed him to outpatient treatment for mental illness. At the time of his death, Ball had a pending case in Carteret County for indecent exposure, charged with exposing his penis to another man on the street in May 2025.
The judge who committed him last summer found he was not dangerous to himself or others and was capable of surviving safely in the community, but needed treatment. He was sent to an outpatient facility for 90 days.
Sheriff Montgomery said Ball “randomly picked” the woman he attacked yesterday as she was leaving the store.
His victim was taken across the street to the Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center for treatment., Montgomery said, “and we hear she’s going to be fine.”
What, snow again???
As we write this, the forecasters who work to provide legitimate information rather than click or ratings bait still aren’t sure what will happen with the snow this weekend.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Wakefield, whose forecasts pilots use to make safe choices, say the three different weather models used by meteorologists differ in the amount of snow we might see, and when it will fall. The two least likely models, they say, call for either no snow, or a monstrous blizzard.
The one they are betting on is somewhere in between.
As of Friday, forecasters said the worst of the snow – up to a foot – will occur from eastern North Carolina to Virginia Beach. Snow is projected to start Saturday night and last into early Sunday, with a possible short burst tonight.
There will be less snow as you progress northwest toward us, Richmond and on to the Piedmont, which may only see one to two inches.
Two things are for sure Saturday: It will be cold, and it will be windy.
The Virginia Department of Transportation announced its crews have begun pre-treatment of major highways, as well as primary county roads in the Historic Triangle.
Once the snow starts, VDOT expects crews to begin working in 12-hour shifts to plow and treat the highways and primary roads as required.
Given the snow will fall on already icy secondary roads, it’s probably safe to assume there will be no school Monday.
Redistricting referendum could cost us $600K
The Democratic push to host an April referendum on redistricting will cost the Historic Triangle’s voting offices close to $400,000 to manage, local registrars told us.
And if the referendum passes, they said that cost could double.
The referendum asks Virginians to approve a constitutional amendment that would abandon the state’s current bipartisan redistricting system. Virginians voted just six years ago to adopt the process to limit gerrymandering – the practice of drawing seats to the advantage of a particular party or group.
The Democrats are now asking to undo this. Last week they approved a bill that would put the Democratic majority in the legislature back in charge of drawing congressional districts. Some of the maps Democrats have floated on social media would eliminate all but one of the state’s Republican congressmen.
Dianna Moorman, James City County’s director of elections, said having to oversee an April referendum would cost $250,000, nearly a third of her current budget.
“Should it pass, that would then cost an additional $80,000-ish to notify all voters of information change and mapping/signage/document updates,” Moorman told us. “Then, possibly two primaries instead of one. The entire process could potentially be well over $600,000...and that would be just one out of 133 localities (in Virginia).”
York County registrar Walter T. Latham, Jr. estimates his costs would be around $105,000, which he said would double if another primary was required.
A spokesperson for the city of Williamsburg said the referendum would cost its registrar $25,000.
Democrats said their plan to bring back gerrymandering was a necessary response to President Donald Trump’s encouragement of similar gerrymandering moves in Texas and Florida.
A recent poll by Christopher Newport University found 63% of Virginians are happy with the way the state handles redistricting.
A circuit court judge in Tazewell county ordered a stop to the referendum this week in a lawsuit brought by Republicans. Democrats said they would appeal.
School Foundation awards teachers $75K
WJCC Schools Foundation awarded $75,000 through its Innovative Learning Grant program to 40 teachers and staff members to fund 37 inventive projects, the school system announced.
“We are grateful for the many ways the greater Williamsburg-James City County community supports our schools. Thanks to those who regularly back the WJCC Schools Foundation, generous investments like these fuel creative learning projects within our classrooms,” said school Superintendent Daniel F. Keever, , superintendent.
Passings
This redistricting expense doesn't serve a public purpose, like schools, roads, or garbage collection. It serves only to advance a political party's parochial interests. The Democratic Party should cover this expense.