A more complete picture of the events leading up to the April 22 suicide of Virginia Military Institute cadet Eric Alter has been revealed in documents released last week by the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office.

Alter shot himself in the neck while sliding down an embankment to the Maury River in Goshen Pass just west of the overlook at approximately 6:15 p.m. that day. He was, by then, the object of a search by law enforcement officials within the Rockbridge area, as well as in surrounding counties, after they were informed that Alter was armed with a handgun and was threatening to kill himself.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Alter, 22, of Centreville, were rooted in events that took place earlier that week at Virginia Military Institute and in the county.

According to a report filed by Thomas H. Trumps, the VMI commandant of cadets at the time, and released by the sheriff's office, Alter had been seen the previous day, Monday, by post physician Dr. David Copeland and then by VMI counselor Sarah Jones. There were concerns, particularly about an incident that took place at the former Kmart parking lot on that Sunday. At that time, Alter was intoxicated and had expressed thoughts about taking his own life. The Kmart parking lot is used by VMI upperclassmen as a place to park their vehicles. On Sunday at the parking lot, Kelsey Croak, an assistant coach at VMI who was with Alter, had observed that there was a handgun in the truck belonging to Alter's roommate.

This incident, which occurred in the county, had gone unreported to the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office until the day of Alter's death, Tuesday.

The sheriff's office had been called upon to join the search for Alter after being notified by VMI authorities around 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday about the situation. There were conflicting reports to the sheriff's office as to whether Alter was headed toward Lynchburg, where his sister lived, or was elsewhere in the county.

Alter, who was talking on his cell phone with Croak at the time, was then thought to be in the Goshen Pass area as indicated by the tower pings from his cell phone.

Deputy Travis Patterson and Investigator Donald Schley located the Ford truck, one of the vehicles that Alter was said to be possibly driving, at the Goshen Pass recreational area. They discovered an opened handgun case in the passenger vehicle, but were unable to locate any witnesses who had seen Alter.

At this point, Patterson returned east along Va. 39 looking for Alter, turned around and spotted Alter going over the embankment near the overpass. In his report, Patterson said he saw Alter sliding down the embankment. Patterson said that he attempted to communicate with Alter as Alter continued to slide down the embankment. Patterson said he was within 10 feet of Alter and could see something dark in his right hand. He then ordered Alter to stop and Patterson unholstered his own weapon.

Patterson reported hearing the victim say something similar to "I'm not going to hurt anyone," and then Alter lifted his right hand up and discharged one round into the side of his neck. He was holding a cell phone in his other hand.

Alter was declared dead at the scene.

Items taken into evidence at the scene, in addition to the plastic gun case, were the Smith & Wesson handgun with one live round in the chamber and a full magazine, the cell phone and a spent .45 caliber cartridge near the victim. A second full magazine was located in the victim's sock. Also in the vehicle were a vodka bottle and a brown bag with a receipt from the ABC store that was dated earlier that day.

The truck belonged to Alter's roommate, Logan Ridge, who was not with Alter at the time.

The report from Trumps, who retired this summer, noted that he was asked to meet with Jones and Alter at the post hospital earlier that day to discuss the handgun incident at the Kmart lot. The incident had been reported to Jones by Croak. Trumps said in the report that, "since the vehicle (and handgun) was not on VMI property, there would be no punishment but it was not a good idea for Cadet Ridge (Alter's roommate) to store the handgun in his vehicle." Trumps reports that Alter and Ridge were sent to the parking lot Tuesday to retrieve the handgun to be locked up in the armory for "safe keeping."

Later, Trumps reports, Alter informed him that he would be late getting to the parking lot. Jones, the VMI counselor, apparently began to get nervous and the VMI police were alerted at approximately 4:15.

At 4:50, after not being able to locate Ridge's vehicle, the decision was made to call 911. Jones, who appeared to know that Alter was on the phone with Croak, and Trumps located Croak and all returned to the VMI police station. Trumps claims Alter kept switching calls between Croak and his fiancé during his remaining hour.

Stewart MacInnis, media spokesman for VMI, said he is not aware at this time of any ongoing investigation into Alter's suicide. He noted the school is mandated by Virginia Code §23-9.2:10 to establish and maintain a Violence Prevention Committee and Threat Assessment Team.

Alter's parents, Bruce and Beth Alter, declined to make any comment to The News-Gazette concerning the newly released information.

Rockbridge County Sheriff Chris Blalock, whose department became involved only in the final stage of the tragedy, expressed disappointment that mental health authorities were not called in by VMI to assist in the effort to save Alter's life.

MacInnis emphasized that the college has a close working relationship with various agencies in the community, including local police and Rockbridge Area Community Services.