Shootout leaves one dead

A shootout, just before midnight, Thursday, left one dead and one wounded.

Michael Thomas Loboschefski

    According to Sheriff Mike Brown, the county's dispatch center got several calls around 11:30 p.m. reporting gunshots being fired at a residence on Johnson Mountain Road. Witnesses reported that a green Mustang was in the area and the people in the car were firing a firearm and Michael Loboshefski, 29, who lives at 5402 Johnson Mountain Road was returning fire with a .22 caliber rifle.
    Deputies arrived at 11:43 p.m. and there were approximately 10 to 15 people, adults and children, in the vicinity of Loboshefski's trailer when they got there. Investigators found a dozen expended .22 caliber rimfire cartridges and three 12 gauge shotgun shell casings. The shells had been loaded with 00 buckshot. Each shell would have held nine pellets. Brown said that they have determined that four shotgun shots were fired.
    "At this point we have not determined who fired the shotgun," Brown said.    
    At 12:05 a.m. deputies learned that a man with a gunshot wound to the leg and an unresponsive female were in the emergency room at Lynchburg General Hospital. The wounded man was identified as Josh Hughes, 27, of Amherst. The woman, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, was identified as Audrey Michell Bryan, 25, of Amherst County. Both had been in the Mustang, which had been abandoned at the scene of the shootout. Joy Bryan Gallier, Bryan's older sister, was also identified as having been in the Mustang at the time of the shootout. Brown said that they are trying to determine who took Bryan and Hughes to the hospital. They are also trying to determine who fired the shotgun.
    "What we have is a very fluid situation at this point," Brown commented.
    Brown said that the shootout appears to be the result of an altercation that started in Amherst County earlier Thursday. At this point it does not appear to be drug related.
    The investigation is continuing.
    "I can't say we have had the best cooperation," Brown commented.
    Loboshefski has been arrested and charged with first degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
    "We are expecting more arrests in this incident," Brown said.