GLEN LYN, Va. – Eleven families are displaced following an apartment complex flooding in the town of Glen Lyn in Giles County.
People were evacuated from the Mountain Glen Apartments around 1 a.m. Monday when police say a man fired a gun accidentally in his apartment, hitting a sprinkler head. That set off the whole system, flooding the building. While the building is being cleaned out, residents are staying in a the Budget Inn nearby in Rich Creek, but they're not sure how long the cleanup will take, and many are disabled and on a fixed-income with nowhere else to go.
"We've got to be out of here at 11:30 on Sunday. Where are we going to go to? We ain't got, I ain't got no family around here, my family lives over in Dixie County," Leroy Reynolds said, whose apartment had its roof cave in due to flooding.
"Cleanup efforts are going on now, but it's probably going to take a week to 10 days," Glen Lyn police Chief Brian Hughes said.
Meanwhile, the man responsible has been identified as Malcolm Powell. He is charged with discharging a firearm in a public dwelling and reckless endangerment, and is now out on bond.