Postmaster#8217;s shooting death still a mystery

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 14, 2008

WILLIAMSBURG—No new information has been released regarding the investigation of a county Navy man who was killed June 21 from a gunshot wound to the chest during a training session.

Petty Officer 1st Class Ron Spivey, 53, was killed during a weapons qualification exercise at the Cheatham Annex live firing range in Williamsburg. Approximately 40 service members were participating in the exercise.

He was treated at the scene and taken by ambulance to Riverside Medical Center in Newport News. He was pronounced dead at 4:33 p.m. that afternoon.

“We don’t have any conclusions to the investigation yet,” said Lt. Penny Cockerell, public affairs officer for the Navy Expedition Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG).

Spivey, postmaster at Newsoms Post Office since 1993, was affiliated with the Norfolk-based reserve detachment of NAVELSG’s Expeditionary Support Unit since May.

He was a member of the reserves for 24 years. He was deployed to Kuwait for seven months in 2005 as part of Navy Customs Battalion PAPA, and was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for his support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Cockerell said in late June after the incident that it “appears that Petty Officer Spivey did have possession of the handgun at the time of the accident,” meaning that they have no reason to believe someone else fired the weapon.

Spivey has been described by a postal co-worker as a “likeable fellow” who would “do anything to help.”