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 Gas Boy on April 20, 2015 at 7:39am

Probably not a wack-job "anti-fracker" - they're all bleeding heart liberals and supposedly don't believe in guns / firearm ownership.  May be an irate hunter or landowner who does not own the oil and gas.

0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on April 21, 2015 at 12:23pm

As I told the atty gnls office employee when they called me to tell me "We don't care what happens to the oil and gas after it leaves the ground" along with 3 other sentences that told me the O&G theft in Ohio was here to stay:

Ohio landowners who want to be treated fairly by receiving the fair royalty agreed upon, will be stolen from then go to prison for taking the law into their own hands, while the real outlaws partner with the government to steal the states wealth.

I suggest using the pen to write letters until we get the right level of Federal Government attention.

Permalink Reply by M. Sean Joyce on April 22, 2015 at 1:40am

Very simple solution. Workers should be carrying sidearms.

Problem solved period.

Permalink Reply by RAYMOND bAUMAN on April 22, 2015 at 11:11am

Has anyone checked out the cause of the  spill/ leak ? Did the shooter cause the spill to attract workers.  If so workers may want to travel in pairs or more.  This could also happen to any contractors or consultants. As to the armed workers, no there is too much liability associated with that. and what if gun fire does start a fire.

Permalink Reply by M. Sean Joyce on April 29, 2015 at 12:56am

Self defense a liability? For whom?

Concealed carry is a DETERRENT.

Given the possibility the antis may end up paying with their life they would not be so eager to cause trouble

With the extensive training the workers receive a fire seems like a remote possibilty.

Permalink Reply by Donald Eisenbarth on April 28, 2015 at 3:56am

Be is WV or KY the same old mountain mentality is still alive.  If you do not like something you shoot someone.  Caused many a mountain feud. If you work in the field, get a carry permit, and always go armed.

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on April 28, 2015 at 4:19am

but it's not permitted to carry. 

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on April 28, 2015 at 5:45am

I believe you're wrong about that (unless you're a felon).

An Ohio License to Carry a Concealed Handgun is also valid in WV, and just recently, also in PA, so I know that both of those states do issue carry permits.

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on April 29, 2015 at 1:52am

drilling companies do not permit any firearm to be carried on their property. It's not a matter of law, but of private property. 

Permalink Reply by Donald Eisenbarth on April 29, 2015 at 2:33am

Drilling companies like many are screw the Constitution, we are the boss and you will do it our way.  You could take a deputy sheriff with you or it you are very good at your job, tell the drilling to shove their job. 

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on April 29, 2015 at 3:28am

So, you know for a fact that ALL drilling companies "do not permit any firearm to be carried on their property" do you? I think not.

Last I checked, drilling companies don't own the drilling sites, they lease them. It would be each landowner's call whether to prohibit firearms on their property.

Three words about this subject since you don't seem to understand the ins and outs of concealed carry. Concealed is concealed.

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on April 29, 2015 at 4:59am

a bit grumpy, are we? I understand concealed carry thoroughly. I think everyone (who is responsible and sensible) should do so. I never said that all drilling companies forbid it, you extrapolated. However, I do know a number of workers in the industry, in several different areas, and those I know have been told by their employers that they are not to carry firearms, and not even jack-knives. Employers DO have that right, and if you are told not to, and you "carry concealed" and are caught, you WILL lose your job. I don't agree with that, but it is what it is. 

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