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Media Release
News Release No. 46
For Immediate Release: December 9, 2011
GUNMAN IDENTIFIED IN VIRGINIA TECH MURDER-SUICIDE
Radford City Police Link Auto Theft to Gunman
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.
Background on Murder-Suicide
At approximately 12:15 p.m., Virginia Tech Police Officer Deriek W. Crouse had a car stopped
in the Coliseum parking lot along Washington Street near the intersection of Spring Road.
Officer Crouse was seated inside his unmarked patrol car when Ashley approached the officer
and fatally shot him. Ashley then fled on foot from the scene. At the Greenhouses, Ashley
changed out of his wool cap and pullover top, and put them inside a backpack that he left
outside the buildings. The backpack was recovered later Thursday by Blacksburg Police.
As law enforcement searched the campus for the shooting suspect, a Montgomery County
Deputy Sheriff spotted a male pedestrian walking by himself in the “Cage” parking lot along
Duck Pond Drive. As the deputy drove towards the man, he temporarily lost sight of him. When
the deputy finally reached the subject, the man was on the ground and deceased from a self-
inflicted gunshot wound. The man had no identification on him and was dressed differently
from the clothing description provided by witnesses at the scene of the officer’s shooting.
Regional Media Contacts
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