On a Tuesday morning in Wytheville, Virginia, Wythe County Deputy Clifford Dicker, a 57-year-old male, was carrying out his duties, a task that on this particular day involved serving juvenile petitions. Having previously suffered a heart attack, Dicker had been assigned to what were considered less strenuous responsibilities, such as courtroom security and serving legal papers.
On December 6, 1994, he arrived at a residence on South Church Street to serve two petitions, for petty larceny and auto theft, to a 15-year-old boy named Christopher Shawn Wheeler. It was a familiar task, as the Sheriff's Office had served a dozen previous petitions on the teenager without incident.
The sequence of events that unfolded inside the home turned a routine duty into a tragedy. Deputy Dicker was shot once in the head with a. 22-caliber rifle that Wheeler had reportedly been using for squirrel hunting earlier that morning. Wounded, Dicker fell to the floor. Wheeler then took the deputy's own 9mm service weapon and shot him a second time in the head, a wound that proved to be fatal. A neighbor called for help, and when law enforcement arrived, they found Deputy Dicker just inside the house. Wheeler was taken into custody at the scene. The investigation was handled by the Virginia State Police at the request of the local agencies.
Christopher Shawn Wheeler, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was arrested and initially charged with capital murder. He was tried as an adult and ultimately pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. In his confession, Wheeler claimed that Dicker had shouted at him and that he saw the deputy 'go for his gun,' which prompted him to fire the first shot. He stated that he fired the second shot out of fear after hearing Dicker making sounds as he lay wounded. He was sentenced to a total of 42 years in prison. After serving 26 years of his sentence, Christopher Shawn Wheeler was paroled in August of 2021. The decision was met with efforts from Deputy Dicker's family, who had actively campaigned to keep Wheeler incarcerated.
