Amherst resident arrested in killing of man found in truck

An Amherst man was arrested and charged with murder Tuesday afternoon in the death of an Amherst County teenager found shot to death in his pickup truck Sunday morning.

Timothy Wayne Wright Jr., 21, of Lipscomb Hollow Road, was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. at the Mountain View Shopping Center in the Town of Amherst.

Wright is charged with the murder of 19-year-old Justin Baumgardner, of Monroe, who was found dead in his Chevrolet pickup truck in a driveway on Elon Road in Amherst County.

Baumgardner graduated from Amherst High School last year, and Ernest Guill, the school’s principal, said the shooting came as a shock.

“Very sad thing, very sad,” Guill said. “He was just a regular kid, just a nice young man, came to school, did what he was supposed to,” Guill said.

He said nothing about Baumgardner suggesting that he had any enemies.

“He was just a nice kid, just kind of blended in with everybody else.”

Guill added that he didn’t know of any connection Wright had with the school.

Baumgardner’s body was discovered at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning, when a resident of the house tried to leave.

Authorities said Baumgardner had no connection with that residence. He was shot about 8 to 10 miles from his home.

According to the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office, Baumgardner was found with multiple bullet wounds, fired from a handgun.

Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers estimated the shots were fired between 9 and 10 p.m. Saturday.

Wright is charged with murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, shooting into an occupied vehicle, shooting from a vehicle and grand larceny.