Saturday, April 10, 2010

Blue Ridge Parkway shooting victim dies

Suffering from a shotgun wound and injuries received when he fell 150 feet over a cliff along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Charlottesville DJ Tim Davis, 27, died Friday afternoon without ever regaining consciousness.

Mr. Davis and a co-worker were watching the sunset Monday evening when both were shot by a stranger wielding a shotgun. Mr. Davis fell over the cliff while his companion, 18-year-old Christina Floyd of Fluvanna, fought with the gunman before being rescued by a passing car and calling emergency personnel.

The Waynesboro News Virginian reported the difficult conditions rescuers endured while trying to reach Mr. Davis at the bottom of the cliff:

According to Chief Curtis Sheets of Wintergreen Fire and Rescue, Davis fell to the very bottom of the pile of rocky debris that workers had used to build the overlook decades ago.

Officials have estimated the fall at more than 150 feet.

Downed trees, bad footing and brush meant that it took precious time to get Davis to a hospital, Sheets said.“Every step you are taking in the dark you are going in up to your knee and darn near breaking your leg,” he said.
In an update, The News Virginian reported that charges against the alleged shooter would be upgraded because of the death of Tim Davis:
The charges against Ralph Leon Jackson, 56, of Stuarts Draft, who is already facing attempted murder charges and charges of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, will be updated to include first-degree murder, said Rupen Shah, chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Augusta County.
The shootings caused authorities to close the Parkway south of Afton Mountain between mile markers 0 and 13 for several days as they searched for evidence and looked for the gunman.

Augusta County resident Ralph Jackson, who lived in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Parkway, was apprehended late Wednesday afternoon by law enforcement officials and charged with the crime. He is currently being held in Middle River Regional Jail in Augusta County where he was denied bond on Thursday.

On Friday, with a man under arrest and one victim dead while another victim recuperated from her wounds, Rock Point Overlook with an altitude of 3,100 feet was serene in its solitude on a sunny but cool and blustery Virginia spring day. The view across the Shenandoah Valley west to the Appalachians 25 miles away was clear with few clouds in the sky.

As out of state tourists stopped to admire the view from the overlook, no signs could be seen of the violent struggle that had occurred five days earlier, and there was no evidence that law enforcement officials had spent hours combing the area for clues. All that was left behind was the quiet of nature.
Cross-posted at The Washington Examiner

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
9 April 2010

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