A shooting that left four men dead Sunday may have tainted the idyllic image of Mount Airy, the town that inspired the 1960s TV series, The Andy Griffith Show.
"It is the worst thing to happen in Mount Airy," said Jesse Schmidt of Holly Springs as he accompanied his wife to Wood's TV and appliance store on Worth Street, where the shooting occurred. They looked at a memorial set up next to the building.
Marcos Chavez Gonzalez, 29, was arrested without incident at a Super 8 Motel on Memorial Drive in Martinsville, Va., about 50 miles northeast of Mount Airy. Authorities received information about Gonzalez's whereabouts around 2:30 a.m. yesterday.
Gonzalez is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, police said. He is accused of killing Juan Manuel Martinez, 26; Javier Manuel Martinez, 21; Victor Alfonso Martinez-Jimemez, 22; all of Mount Airy and Marcos Oviedo Aguilar, 21, of Surry County.
Police said that Juan and Javier were brothers, Victor was their cousin and Marcos Aguilar was a mutual acquaintance. Gonzalez was being held last night in the Surry County Jail in Dobson. He is scheduled to appear in court today.
The men were shot with a high-powered assault rifle outside Wood's TV, in the shadow of a water tower that says "Welcome to Mount Airy" and has a picture of Griffith portraying Sheriff Andy Taylor and a young Ron Howard, as his son Opie, on the show.
Police are still trying to determine what led to Sunday's deadly shooting. Investigators are checking into several leads including whether it was a contract killing or repercussions from a love affair gone bad.
"There is a lot of speculation at this point of what led to this shooting," said Chief Dale Watson of the Mount Airy Police Department.
The town, which has a population of 8,700, has built a tourist trade on nostalgia for the show that continues to thrive in syndication.
"This is Mayberry.... Andy Griffith's house is in spitting distance here," said Michael Wood, one of the owners of Wood's TV.
Michelle Oviedo, 21, said that her boyfriend and brother were among the dead and the alleged shooter is her mother's boyfriend. She said she was sitting on her porch not far from Wood's TV when she heard the gunshots.
"When I got there, Javier and my brother were already gone," she said. "They were on top of each other."
Jose Armando Hernandez, 46, said through a translator that three of the victims were his nephews. He said his family is "destroyed" over the deaths, which he said stemmed from a problem with a woman.
Watson said that 16 shots were fired, but the assault rifle had not been found.
"It was quite a crime scene," he said. "It is very disheartening that this happened in this community."
So far this year the town has had only five homicides, but it had just one until Sunday.
State prison records show that Gonzalez was released more than two years ago after serving more than two years on a 2002 conviction for kidnapping a minor and a probation violation.
State records show the felony kidnapping charge required Gonzalez to register as a sex offender. North Carolina's post-release supervision of Gonzalez ended in June 2006 when he returned to prison after failing to stay in contact with a probation officer, said a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction.
Investigators also are trying to find out how Gonzalez acquired an assault rifle despite having a criminal record, Watson said.
Mourners gathered at a makeshift memorial of flowers, cards, stuffed animals and candles. Some women lay on the ground crying.
Gary L. Chilton runs an insurance business that shares the lot with the television and appliance store.
He said he moved his business there about a year ago because the area is known for being open and safe.
"This is so unusual for Mount Airy," he said. "I was just shocked."
He said he often comes in on Sundays to do catch-up work but decided to stay at home yesterday.
"Call it what you want -- divine intervention or whatever," he said. "I just happened to stay home."
pgarber@wsjournal.com
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jhinton@wsjournal.com
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The Associated Press
contributed to this story.
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