Soured Love Affair May Have Led to Mount Airy Killings

A soured love affair may have led an ex-convict to gun down four men in the town that inspired the idyllic community of Mayberry on the 1960s TV series "The Andy Griffith Show," police said Monday.

Officers arrested Marcos Chavez Gonzalez on four counts of murder near a Henry County (Va.) motel around 2:30 a.m. Monday.

Lt. Ricky Walker with the Henry County (Va.) Sheriff's Department said Gonzalez waived extradition during an arraignment Monday and was back in Surry County by afternoon.

Investigators also seized a green 2003 Ford F-350 pickup truck they believe Gonzalez was driving when he left the murder scene.

According to Mount Airy Police Chief Dale Watson, the deadly shooting happened around 2:15 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of Wood's TV at 729 Worth St. in the historic district of Mount Airy.

Two of the victims died at the scene. The other two were taken to Northern Surry Hospital, where they died.

Investigators identified the victims as Victor Alphonso Martinez-Jimenez, 22; Javier Manuel Martinez, 21; Juan Manuel Martinez, 26; and Marco Ovievo Agulira, 21. The Martinezes were brothers and Martinez-Jimenez was their cousin, investigators said. Agulira was an acquaintance of the other three.

Gonzalez appeared in court on Tuesday and was also charged with failing to register as a sex offender. He will appear in court on December 14 on those charges. He will face murder charges on December 17.

The four were shot in the shadow of a water tower that says "Welcome to Mount Airy" and has a picture of Griffith and Opie, his son on the show.

"This is Mayberry ... Andy Griffith's house is in spitting distance here," said Michael Wood, one of the owners of Woods TV.

Police do not believe the shootings were random, but Watson said they did not plan to release a motive.

Watson said the the alleged shooter used an assault rifle on the victims. He said 16 shots were fired but the assault rifle had not been found.

Michelle Oviedo, 21, said 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.

The town with a population of approximately 8,700 was the inspiration for the idyllic community of Mayberry in television's "The Andy Griffith Show" and hometown of Andy Griffith. It has built a tourist trade on nostalgia for the 1960s show that continues to thrive in syndication.

State prison records show 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 last November, Correction Department spokesman Keith Acree said.

By Monday, someone had set up a makeshift memorial with flowers. Mourners gathered there and some women lay on the ground crying. Someone christened the memorial with a bottle of Corona beer, which sat half empty next to brightly colored candles with photos of saints on them.

Gary Chilton, an owner of Chilton Insurance Group, which shares the building with Woods TV, said the crime is not indicative of the usually quiet town.

"I'm not sure it's totally sunk in because it's so unusual. On any given Sunday there is nothing here in this parking lot. There's nothing here at all," he said. "My biggest question is why in this parking lot at all. Why Woods TV parking lot?"

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.