Blue Ridge Parkway shooting suspect denied bail; one victim in critical condition

Friday was sunny and windy at Rock Point Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway where two people were randomly shot by a gunman Monday evening while watching the sunset. This view is looking west across the Shenandoah Valley toward the Appalachian Mountains.

The news that an arrest had been made in the Blue Ridge Parkway double shooting that occurred Monday spread like wildfire throughout the Shenandoah Valley.

A sigh of relief went up from residents who had stayed away from the park area, fearful of the random shootings that came from someone still on the loose until Wednesday afternoon.

The Waynesboro News Virginian reported the arrest of Ralph Leon Jackson, 56, who was charged with shooting Charlottesville disc jockey Tim Davis, 27, and Christina Floyd, 18, of Palmyra. Mr. Davis remained in critical condition at the University of Virginia Hospital while Ms. Floyd was in fair condition. The NV wrote:

Authorities said Jackson, a married mechanic, fired shotgun blasts at the victims as they watched the sunset off the Blue Ridge Parkway, 10 miles from the Afton entrance, at Rock Point Overlook. The shooting launched a manhunt that pulled in resources from Virginia State Police, the FBI, the National Park Service and other jurisdictions.

Sheriff’s deputies, state police and federal agents combed the region Tuesday and Wednesday seeking the suspect, whom authorities described as a white man of medium build with long, gray hair and who they said fled in what might have been a red Ford Taurus. Numerous sightings came to authorities based on those descriptions.

The arrest was made around 3:15 p.m. on Howardsville Turnpike in Stuarts Draft, which connects to the parkway.

The suspect, being held in the Middle River Regional Jail in Augusta County, was refused bond on Thursday by a local judge.

Meanwhile, the people Ralph Leon Jackson worked for were in shock that their employee was involved in the Parkway shootings. According to the News Virginian:

Less than a mile from the courthouse, at the auto garage where Jackson worked, shop owner Delmar Lambert and his wife, Barbara, sat in shock on Thursday.

“He came in and worked Tuesday,” Barbara Lambert said. “He talked to Delmar about what had happened up there – about seeing all the police lights and stuff.”
...
“He was an absolutely average person,” Barbara Lambert said. “The man that we knew and worked with for three years – it was totally out of character.”

The big question now is, "Why?"

Cross-posted at The Washington Examiner

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
9 April 2010