A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted the Stuarts Draft man accused in last spring’s shooting rampage on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Ralph Leon Jackson, 57, is scheduled to appear today before a federal court judge in Harrisonburg to enter a plea, said Brian McGinn, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was indicted on charges of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm in relation to a violent crime.
Authorities say Jackson fired a 20-gauge shotgun at Christina Shay Floyd, 18, of Palmyra, and Timothy Davis, 27, of Charlottesville, at sunset April 5 at the Rock Point Overlook, 10 miles from the parkway’s entrance just outside Waynesboro.
Davis fell 150 feet over a cliff after being shot and died four days later. Floyd survived with gunshot wounds. Federal charges in Davis’ killing are pending, McGinn said.
Davis was a WNRN radio station operations manager, station officials said.
The shooting sparked a manhunt covering almost two days, ending when a SWAT team and more than a dozen officers descended on Jackson’s home at 1880 Howardsville Turnpike following a Crime Stoppers tip, authorities said.
Much of what authorities know about the attack came from Floyd’s account.
Authorities said they still believe the attack occurred at random.
The attempted murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Each of the other charges carries a possible 10-year sentence.
Jackson has been held at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona since his arrest by Augusta County authorities on state charges of first-degree murder and attempted capital murder. Those charges will be dismissed clearing the way for the feds to pursue the case, McGinn said.
That move long had been anticipated by authorities working the case.
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