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'He gunned down my sister' Published: February 26, 2012
The younger brother of the Culpeper homemaker shot dead by a local police officer said his family is shocked, and like many here, cannot understand what happened on the morning of Feb. 9.
On that day in a Catholic school parking lot on North East Street, Patricia Ann Cook reportedly had a physical altercation with a still-unidentified Culpeper Police officer after the school called authorities to report a suspicious person.
As the interaction between the officer and Cook progressed, according to the Virginia State Police, lead agency in the investigation, she trapped the officer’s arm in her car window and pulled away.
The officer told her to stop, and then fired multiple times before Cook, driving a Jeep Wrangler, crashed into a telephone pole about a block away. A churchgoer, housewife and retired cosmetologist originally from Illinois, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting occurred on a Thursday around 10 a.m. in a residential area off of Main Street in close proximity to a school, church and shelter for abused women.
“It’s a tragedy for my family, the people of Culpeper, the family of the police officer – everybody involved,” said Cook’s brother, John Weglier, of N.J. “It’s unbelievable.”
The news was even harder to bear because it happened on the birthday of their father, who passed away last year.
“It would have been his 86th birthday. I was horrified,” Weglier said.
Two days earlier on Feb. 7, Patricia Cook celebrated her 54th birthday.
“It is just absolutely terrible,” the brother said. “I can’t imagine my sister in that situation or what the officer was thinking. He gunned down my sister. It is just insane.”
Weglier said his sister received maybe one speeding ticket in her life and that was the extent of her interaction with police. She never shot a gun and never had a weapon, he said
Weglier attended last Sunday’s memorial service for his sister at Culpeper United Methodist, where Mrs. Cook was active in the children’s ministry, quilters’ guild and in the church kitchen.
Their mother, Carol Weglier, also of N.J., was unable to attend, said John, as she is wheelchair bound and unable to travel long distances.
In trying to comprehend how their loved one ended up dead in a police altercation, Weglier recalled a conversation Pat had with her mother years ago involving a criminal in Illinois who was impersonating an officer, would pull women over and then rape them.
“The only thing mom and I have come up with is either Pat felt threatened or Pat or didn’t understand why a man in uniform was coming up to her car,” Weglier said.
“Maybe she recalled that conversation with mom. The response they talked about was just drive to the police station. That is possible what she was thinking if she was confused or overly anxious that might explain her trying to leave – I don’t know.”
Patricia Ann Cook moved to Culpeper in 2004 soon after marrying Gary Cook, who works for the federal government, and is said to be pursuing a lawsuit against the town in his wife’s death.
Weglier said Pat was happy here.
“I am very pleased that she found the Christian family she found at the Methodist church,” Weglier said. “I knew Pat had found love and a healthy place for her – that is the primary source of joy that I got in all of this. Our only comfort is she found God and Christ was her savior and she was loved by the church there.”
Mrs. Cook’s body was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Manassas for autopsy, which has since been completed. She was cremated, according to her brother, and her remains placed in a mahogany urn in the sanctuary at her memorial service.
She will be laid to rest in Mr. Cook’s family plot in Illinois.
Nancy Bull, district administrator with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manassas, when asked about the autopsy results, said they only release the cause and manner of death, when available.
She said the case is still under investigation, as did the state police when asked recently for updates in the shooting death that has stunned and angered many in Culpeper.
Weglier said a VSP agent asked him a few questions, but that he did not receive much information about the deadly
incident. Cook’s brother recalled growing up with a sister who was “very cool” and “clever.” Pat did a lot of the cooking and cleaning, and had a witty sense of humor, said Weglier, remembering a time when she sent him off to school with a peanut and Cheerios sandwich.
He expressed his appreciation to the Culpeper community for its outpouring of support and asked for prayers for his family.
Weglier said he would be praying for the community and the police officer’s family. He hoped local leadership would make the right decision in investigating his sister’s death.
Meanwhile, a mother continues to mourn the loss of her daughter.
“Mom is shocked,” Weglier said. “Her primary question is why would someone shoot Pat? She doesn’t understand and how am I supposed to explain it?”
