Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402280077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON and LON WAGNER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Elbert L. "Lyn" Goodwin, 55, died at 3 a.m. at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, a spokeswoman said. Goodwin, of Salem, never regained consciousness after shooting himself on a dark and narrow stretch of Poor Mountain Road near his home late Saturday.
Goodwin opened fire around 9 p.m. Saturday at the Lancer Truck Stop off Interstate 81 at Ironto. Montgomery County police said he shot clerk Sandra K. Brown, 37, of Radford twice in the chest with a .38-caliber revolver.
A Pennsylvania truck driver who entered the store and initially thought Brown was passed out called 911. After making the call, Timothy Ruhl realized Brown was wounded and tried to keep Goodwin from leaving the truck stop. "You're not going anywhere," Ruhl, 29, told Goodwin.
But Goodwin shot Ruhl in the neck and drove away. Ruhl, from Mount Joy, Pa., was in very critical condition Sunday night at Roanoke Memorial. He suffered spinal cord damage and is believed to be paralyzed, said Ron Hamlin, an investigator for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
Neither Goodwin's relatives, including a wife and a daughter, nor authorities could say what sent him on the spree of violence. But a Tennessee trucker who was in the store said Goodwin seemed jealous of Brown's relationship with another man.
"I heard her tell him, `I'll hug his neck anytime I want to, even if his wife's in here - it's none of your business,' " said Ernie Livesay, who left the truck stop before the shooting.
"She told him, `You're going to have to leave and leave me alone,' " Livesay said. "When I left, you could tell he was mad - he was prancing around."
Others suggested Goodwin may have been depressed about his work hours being reduced. Family members said Goodwin was a bulldozer operator with Russell Short Inc., an excavating company in Roanoke.
Montgomery County Sheriff Ken Phipps said Goodwin apparently had been drinking.
"We would very much like to get this cleared up," said Lynda Goodwin, 27, his daughter, "because I know my father's not a violent man. My father is the most kind, agreeable man I know."
Police and family members said Elbert Goodwin just "snapped."
Surveillance videotapes viewed by police show Goodwin and Brown arguing before he shot her. Family members said they had some form of an ongoing relationship, but would not specify.
According to other witnesses, Goodwin and Brown argued for more than half an hour. Goodwin then left the store for a short period, re-entered, waited until customers left, and shot Brown - who was married with five children.
At one point Goodwin turned to one of Brown's co-workers and told her not to worry, that he wouldn't hurt her, police said.
Hamlin said a friend of Goodwin's - who later gave police the description they used to track him - entered the store just after Goodwin shot Ruhl.
Goodwin gave the man a message before driving off in his truck. "He told his friend to tell his wife he loved her and to take care of his family," Hamlin said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB