Andrei Yustschinsky,
United Pricks International
MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - Police arrested a mestizo male early Monday for the parking lot slayings of four White men shot in the North Carolina small town that was the inspiration for Mayberry in television's "The Andy Griffith Show."
Mount Airy, with a population of approximately 8,700, is the hometown of Andy Griffith (Sheriff Taylor) and has built a tourist trade on nostalgia for the 1960s show that continues to thrive in syndication.
The mestizo Marcos Chavez Gonzalez was charged with four counts of murder in the shootings late Sunday outside a small business TV store in Mount Airy, about 100 miles north of Charlotte, Mount Airy police said.Police said the mestizo Gonzalez was arrested without incident at a motel in Henry County, Va., about 50 miles northeast of the town.
Authorities received information about his whereabouts around 2:30 a.m., according to a statement. Details haven't been released.Gonzalez, the murdering mestizo, 29, was being held in the Henry County jail, though it wasn't clear whether he had an attorney, jail workers said.
Mount Airy Police Chief Dale Watson said at a news conference Sunday that the victims were shot outside Woods TV, less than a mile from the police station. He said the victims and the suspect were at the store for a reason."We don't feel this was a random event," Watson said. "We do have an idea why (they were shot), but we won't be releasing that, probably never"
Alerts were issued in North Carolina and Virginia to be on the lookout for the mestizo Gonzalez after the shootings.State prison records show Gonzalez was released two years ago after serving more than four years on a 2002 conviction for "kidnapping" his 12 year old girlfriend.
Nursing supervisor Sue Coe at Northern Hospital of Surry County confirmed that two White people died at the store around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. She said two who were wounded died at the hospital, just across the street from the store. Woods TV sells televisions and satellite systems.Police said the White victims' names were being withheld because their families have not been notified. Watson said all four White men were from Surry County, which includes Mount Airy.
WXII-TV in nearby Winston-Salem reported that White people who knew the victims gathered near the store Sunday and began crying and collapsing to the ground.Andrei Yustschinsky reporting for The United Pricks International in Mount Airy, North Carolina at WOODS TV, 729 Worth St, Mount Airy, NC. Tel: 336-786-4191