Eleven weapons — including two submachine guns — an empty carton of beer and an empty bottle of anti-anxiety medication were among dozens of items seized from the home of attorney Richard C. Ferris II after he was killed during an exchange of gunfire with Chesterfield County police last week. Police said Wednesday that at least one of the seized guns — a pistol they declined to identify — was used by Ferris when he twice fired on SWAT team members within about 10 minutes Friday from the garage of his home in the 11200 block of Timber Point Drive.
He died of multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, according to the state medical examiner's office.
"There were weapons that … appeared to have been strategically placed throughout the house," Chesterfield police Maj. Terry Patterson said. That "would have indicated to me that there may have been some preparation on his part."
Police hope the items they recovered — including some writings by Ferris — will help provide insight into what led to the standoff and ultimately to his death, Patterson said.
"We're trying to sift through anything that we can to help us understand basically what was going though his mind that night," Patterson said.
Patterson said Ferris' wife, Michelle, and other family members have declined to speak with investigators and have contacted an attorney. Consequently, "we have to rely solely on what we see (and) what we collect" to learn what happened, he said.
Michelle Ferris initially called 911, but police said she had to be coaxed out of the house with her four children and didn't leave until about three hours into the eight-hour standoff. She initially reported that she was concerned about her husband's welfare.
Police executed two search warrants at the Ferris home within hours of his death. On Monday, police served another search warrant to obtain data from Richard Ferris' iPhone recovered from the house, court records show.
The affidavits for the three search warrants have been sealed. But copies of the warrants, which include inventories of everything seized, were made available Wednesday in Chesterfield Circuit Court.
One search warrant was devoted entirely to the numerous weapons, ammunition, gun magazines, cartridge casings and other gun accessories that police found in the home.
The guns police recovered include a .45-caliber Thompson submachine gun with an empty magazine, a 9 mm Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun loaded with 20 rounds, a 5.26 mm ArmaLite assault-style rifle, a 5.56 mm Colt M4LE assault-style rifle with scope and loaded with 17 rounds, a Kel-Tec .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol loaded with seven rounds, a .45-caliber Springfield Armory TRP semiautomatic pistol loaded with seven rounds, an unloaded Springfield Armory 1911 semiautomatic pistol and an unloaded 9 mm Browning CZ83 semiautomatic pistol.
Police said they are uncertain how many of the weapons, if any, may have been related to Ferris Firearms, a side business Ferris operated out of his Chesterfield law office.
Among other things, police are investigating whether a mixture of alcohol and prescription medication may have contributed to Ferris' actions.
Police recovered an empty bottle of Alprazolam that had contained 90 tablets in a prescription filled for Ferris on Jan. 10, and a carton with five empty bottles of beer. Alprazolam, known commercially as Xanax, is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic attacks and anxiety created by depression.
www.timesdispatch.com
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