A violent domestic dispute that began in Burlington in the early morning hours of Tuesday ended in tragedy later that day in Fancy Gap, Virginia, when a Burlington man shot a woman he had kidnapped, then turned the gun on himself.
The September 8 shooting of two people that led to the death of a North Carolina man in Fancy Gap began with a domestic incident in Burlington, N.C., according to local authorities.
Renaldo Lemar Tate, 34, of Burlington, was found by the roadside near the intersection of Chance’s Creek Road and Fancy Gap Highway by Carroll County, Virginia authorities, dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. His former girlfriend, Crystal Lashawn Clay, 34, also of Burlington, was also suffering from a gunshot, though she survived and was rushed to a hospital.
According to Carroll County Sheriff Kevin A. Kemp, the two had been engaged in a heated domestic altercation beginning earlier that morning. He said the Burlington Police Department had responded to an address within its jurisdiction at approximately 3:47 a.m. after being alerted there might be a problem between Tate and Clay. They could find neither individual, and electronic searches looking for their cell phone locations were not successful.
Later that morning, at 6:45 a.m., the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call of a shooting incident near the intersection of Chance’s Creek Road and Fancy Gap Highway. Once on scene, deputies found a deceased male and a female with apparent gunshot injuries. The female, Clay, was found beside a vehicle.
“Ms. Clay had obvious signs of abduction and appeared to have a gunshot wound to the face. She was able to communicate with the deputies, and advised that Renaldo Tate had abducted her in Burlington, N.C. and tied her in the vehicle,” Kemp said in a press release.
According to Kemp, witnesses advised that the male and female were in a physical altercation beside the parked car.
”During the altercation, Mr. Tate pulled out a gun, shot Mrs. Clay, then turned the gun on himself, and discharged the firearm,” Kemp said. “After communicating with the Burlington Police Department, it was confirmed that Mrs. Clay was the victim and that Mr. Tate was the suspect in their abduction investigation. The vehicle found at the scene was registered to Ms. Clay and was the vehicle she was operating when she was last seen in Burlington, N.C. It is uncertain as to why the vehicle stopped in Carroll County.“
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com