BLACKSBURG, VA –
Virginia State Police have identified a Spotsylvania County man as the subject responsible for the murder-suicide that occurred Thursday (Dec. 8, 2011) on the Virginia Tech campus. Investigators have confirmed that Ross Truett Ashley, 22, of Partlow, Va., took his own life approximately a half-hour after fatally shooting a Virginia Tech Police Officer. Ashley also had a local residence in the 1000 block of East Main Street in Radford, Va.
At this time, there remains no prior connection or contact between Ashley, who was enrolled part-time at Radford University, and the Virginia Tech Officer he killed. State police investigators are continuing their work to establish a motive in the killing and to recreate Ashley’s movements in the days and hours leading up to the murder-suicide.
Ashley has been identified by Radford City Police as the individual responsible for the theft of a white 2011 Mercedes SUV from a real estate office in the City of Radford on Dec. 7, 2011. The Mercedes was stolen at gunpoint at approximately 11:25 a.m. Wednesday from Gilbert Real Estate in the 600 block of Calhoun Street. A male entered the business armed with a handgun and demanded the keys to an employee’s vehicle. No one in the real estate office was injured. The subject got away in the SUV, which was located the next day (Dec. 8) on the Smart Road at Virginia Tech. At the time of the armed robbery, Radford City Police had issued a multi-state “Be On the Lookout” (BOL) for the stolen vehicle. When Blacksburg Police responded to a call of an abandoned vehicle on the Smart Road on Dec. 8, they immediately notified Radford City Police of its recovery.
