CHARGES FILED IN WIRT HUNTING ACCIDENT - Principal Hoover Fired

(04/17/2008)

The DNR in Wirt County has charged Tony McCloy with negligent shooting, felony possession of a firearm and withholding information, in an incident where a teen was shot in the head during hunting season last October. The victim was identified as Christopher Giffen of Wood County. Giffen recovered from the wound. The charges against McCloy are being filed while the Wirt County Board of Education has fired Wirt Middle School principal JD Hoover, who brought guns from that incident onto school grounds. Reports indicate McCloy was taking Giffen to the hospital, when he called principal Hoover and asked him to retrieve the guns from the incident. Records indicate Hoover went to the scene of the shooting and retrieved the weapons, bringing them back to Wirt Middle School, but later returned one or more of the weapons to the wooded area, placing them near the site of the shooting. The weapons charges against Hoover have been dismissed, using a loophole in a section of the WV Code. The Wirt County school board dismissed Hoover from his job Wednesday night. Hoover had been on administrative leave since the incident. Superintendent Daniel Metz said Thursday morning that former principal and long-time teacher Dwight Goff is acting as Middle School Principal while applications are being sought for Hoover's successor.

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