Anti-Drilling Gun Shooting at Well Site?

Saw this on an outdoor site but, there are other places it has been reported I'm sure.  Happened close to Charleston Wv.

LINCOLN COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A foreman with a natural gas and oil producing company is preparing for surgery after being shot in the hand while on the job.

It happened about 1:30 p.m., Monday along Ridgewood Drive in the Sumerco area of Lincoln County.

The victim, Mark Miller, is a foreman for HG Energy, which is based out of Parkersburg.

Miller spoke with WSAZ over the phone Wednesday morning from his hospital room.

Miller told WSAZ he was out taking pictures of a crude oil leak. When he was leaving the site, he says a tall, lanky man dressed in camouflage, with black stuff rubbed all over his face, approached his vehicle. Miller stopped because he thought the man needed help.

"That's nothing new," Miller said. "There's always somebody hung up (in that area)."

Miller said the man walked up to the right side of his vehicle and put a tape recorder up to the window.

"Then he stuck a gun up to the window and played the tape recorder," Miller said. "It was really hard to hear. It was talking about 'stopping the drilling or no more drilling' -- something like that."

Miller says the man didn't say a single word during their encounter.

"About the time the tape recorder stopped, he pointed it (the gun) at my head, so I grabbed it," he said.

However, the man was still able to pull the trigger. The bullet hit Miller in the hand, near his knuckles, and shattered a bone.

Miller said he keyed the button on his radio as soon as he saw the man's gun, so that someone would hear what was going on. He says a woman at their main office heard the whole thing, and called police.

Meanwhile, Miller had kept the vehicle in drive and hit the gas. He says the suspect ran in the opposite direction.

"I left as fast as I could," Miller said. "I was thinking about my kids."

He has two children, ages 19 and 16. He said the whole thing has been very tough on his family.

"My wife hasn't left my side," he said. "She doesn't want me to go back."

Miller is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday afternoon. He says if all goes well, he should be released Thursday.

As for whether or not he'll return to work: "I really don't know," Miller said. "If they catch him, I definitely will."

Now that he's had a couple of days to process what happened, Miller says he has no regrets.

"Honestly, it's gone over and over in my head, what was the right thing to do? And I don't think I would have done anything differently," he said.

Miller says he has thought about the possibility that the whole thing was a setup, but he isn't convinced.

"We really don't know," he said. "We've had trouble in the past with this well. There's really no way of knowing. I just don't know how he knew we were going to be there."

No arrests have been made in the case, but Miller says he's hopeful that the guy will be caught. He says he's really hoping to just get some answers.

"We really want to know why," Miller said.

http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/Gas-Company-Foreman-Recounts-Mom...

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Perotto on April 18, 2015 at 1:08pm

What is also sad is the fact that none of the mainstream press has reported this. Would there be this silence if an oil and gas worker shot a protester?

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on April 19, 2015 at 1:22am

So true, and a lesson for persons who do not believe mainstream news is managed.  The mainstream media does not lie as much as they edit.  They edit out most news which does not fit the template they are attempting to sell.  And if such news is not edited out, it is minimized, given little time and short shrift.

When news comes along that fits their template, which seems to confirm the story line they are selling (e.g., climate change is real and fossil fuels are evil), they harp on it endlessly 24/7/365!

This is what passes for "journalism" in 2015!

Permalink Reply by Tim on April 19, 2015 at 1:57pm

well stated Frank.

Permalink Reply by Jacob Fewx on April 27, 2015 at 5:37am

Be careful what you ask for...If it is reported it may empower other environmental extremist to do copycat versions of this.   

Permalink Reply by Carl Krebsbach on April 18, 2015 at 2:43pm

http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150414/GZ01/150419682

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Oil worker shot in Lincoln County

By Rachel Molenda, Staff writer

A gas company employee was shot in Lincoln County on Monday afternoon, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy J.J. Napier said Tuesday.

A man dressed in camouflage with his face painted black approached Mark Miller, an employee with HG Energy LLC, on Joe’s Creek near Sod, Napier said.

“At that time he played Mr. Miller a recording that said ‘Stop the drilling’ and then stuck a gun through the window of the passenger side of the truck,” Napier said.

Miller told police he grabbed the gun, which fired, shooting him in the hand, Napier said.

Miller then drove back to the HG Energy office in Yawkey, Napier said.

A person who answered the phone at HG Energy’s Parkersburg office said a spokesman for the company wasn’t available as of Tuesday morning.

HG Energy operates in 15 West Virginia counties, and owns and operates 1,300 oil and gas wells in West Virginia and Ohio, according to its website.

The incident was reported around 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Miller was in an unmarked work truck checking on a leaking oil well in the area, according to the West Virginia State Police, which is leading the investigation.

A State Police trooper said Miller was in a wildlife management area, not on private property.

Beth Little, a member of the West Virginia Sierra Club, said in a voicemail that the organization’s board members were shocked to learn of the incident.

“We think violence is deplorable,” Little said in her message.

No arrests had been made as of late Tuesday. State Police don’t have a specific suspect.

A scent was tracked four miles into the woods using a dog, but lost it at a set of four-wheeler tracks. A trooper with the State Police in the Hamlin detachment said police couldn’t determine if the scent was the suspect’s.

Napier said the suspect did not identify himself or say anything to Miller, and he didn’t know what kind of gun was used in the incident.

The State Police trooper said he believes the shooting was an isolated incident. This is the first incident of its kind the Sheriff’s Department has heard about, Napier said.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on April 18, 2015 at 4:07pm

"We think violence is deplorable," wink wink

Permalink Reply by Paul Butler on April 19, 2015 at 2:32am

As the gunman walked away he stated:  Keep the change ya filthy animal!

Permalink Reply by Paul Butler on April 19, 2015 at 2:40pm

I think the cops and media don't believe the story. 

The police I know are highly skeptical of both human nature and what folks tell them.  For all we know the guy got shot disarming a disgruntled employee that wasn't paid or something like that.  I don't know what happened.  Were the radio transmissions recorded?  I'd like to hear that tape.

I'm sure the police will investigate the shooting before they draw any conclusions.  That's the smart thing to do.

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on April 20, 2015 at 6:09am

seriously? sounds like YOU are highly skeptical. 

Permalink Reply by Paul Butler on April 20, 2015 at 6:23am

I am guilty as charged your honor!

I remember when Susan Smith killed her children and then said they had been kidnapped by black people;

I remember when the right wing disciple of Richard Mellon Scaife went on a bender and then reported she had been kidnapped and beaten by Obama supporters.

I remember when the white dude in Boston whacked his wife, blamed black people, then jumped to his death from an icy bridge.

I wasn't born this way.

Look how the cruel world has turned me into a cynic! 

Permalink Reply by MARK LANDIS on April 21, 2015 at 5:25am

You forgot Bill Clinton when he said "He did not have sex with that woman".

Permalink Reply by Paul Butler on April 21, 2015 at 6:17am

True.

I'm not a Democrat. 

I was trying to think of analogous examples of individuals misreporting crimes to the police in order to obscure some culpability on their part or an embarrassing fact.

At least when I tell only part of the story, I admit it.

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