Bond $500K in fatal shooting in Vicksburg|[4/26/06]

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Bail was set at $500,000 Tuesday for a Warren County man charged with murder in a shooting at his home Friday.

David Wayne Welch, 40, 310 Massey Road, remained in jail this morning.

Justice Court Judge Edwin Woods set the bond at Welch’s initial appearance in Warren County Justice Court.

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He is accused of shooting Cetric Ladelle Griffin, 24, 116 Signal Hill Drive, in the head and chest. Griffin’s body was found just outside the back door of Welch’s house around 9:30 a.m., near the end of the unpaved rural road.

The case will likely go to the grand jury in its July session, said Sheriff Martin Pace, who had asked that no bond be set. The grand jury begins its May session next week.

&#8220We won’t be through with the investigation next week,” Pace said.

Welch, who was not represented by an attorney at the court appearance, may ask for a preliminary hearing before then.

Authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting or untangled the sequence of events leading to it, Pace said.

In setting bail, Woods noted Welch was a lifelong resident of Warren County who had worked steadily for the past five years and had no criminal history.

Several members of Griffin’s family sat in the back of the room as Welch quietly answered the judge’s questions. They declined comment.

Griffin died shortly after Welch made a call to 911 at 9:12 a.m., when he initially told dispatchers he had shot an intruder on his property, that he didn’t know the man and had been threatened, Pace said.

Investigators, however, determined that Welch knew Griffin and that the two had been together Thursday night.

A sawed-off, 20-gauge shotgun was found at the scene and is believed to be the weapon used in the killing. Pace said he thinks there had been a dispute between the two over money.

The homicide was Warren County’s second this year. In January, family members found the body of 72-year-old Elizabeth Williams in her home off U.S. 80, the victim of a blow to the head. No charges have been filed in that case.