Shooting leaves 1 dead in CC

A day before Thanksgiving shooting in Charles City has left a county woman wounded and the apparent triggerman, also a county resident, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

The woman, Pamela Cotman, 37, of 9101 Little Elam Road, was listed last week in stable condition at MCV Medical Center in Richmond. She was struck twice, once in the left breast and once below the torso, by bullets fired from a .357 magnum revolver, said Capt. Jayson Crawley of the Charles City Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators say Gregory Bradby, 53, of 8800 Little Elam Road, apparently shot Cotman and turned the weapon on himself inside his home. He died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Crawley said Charles City deputies responded last Wednesday around 8 p.m. to a call concerning shots fired at Bradby’s Little Elam Road address. The first deputy on the scene encountered Cotman fleeing from the house through a side door and screaming she had been shot. Crawley said the deputy heard another gunshot ring out from inside.

“She told the deputy that Gregory Bradby had shot her and put the gun to his chest and shot himself,” Crawley said.

Deputies got the woman to safety and secured the perimeter around the house. They tried unsuccessfully to contact Bradby before calling in a State Police SWAT team.

“We made several attempts to contact Mr. Bradby and then called in the tactical team to make entry because we didn’t know what we would encounter. Window blinds were closed and we couldn’t see into the house,” Crawley said.

Bradby’s brother, meanwhile, was also inside and managed to escape with police help through a bedroom window. Investigators later learned that the brother had heard shots, barricaded himself inside the bedroom, and called police, Crawley said.

Once inside, SWAT team members found Bradby lying on the floor and unresponsive in the house’s den. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Crawley described the relationship between Cotman and Bradby as boyfriend-girlfriend.

“We understand that she was breaking up with him and they got into an argument,” he said, adding that there had been no previous reports about domestic issues involving the couple.

Crawley described Cotman’s wounds as non-life-threatening.