ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990                   TAG: 9005060186
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


HOLDUP SUSPECT DIES IN SHOOTOUT; TWO MEN INJURED

An argument over a week-old armed robbery erupted into a shootout Friday in Henry County that left one man dead and two others suffering from gunshot wounds in the head.

Jimmy Leon Rigney, 32, of Ridgeway died after he was shot in the chest with buckshot about 11:30 p.m., according to Sheriff James Rogers.

He was killed after shooting both Robert Wayne Scott, 27, and Tracy Dean Clark, 22, in the head with a .38-caliber pistol, the sheriff said.

Scott was listed in critical condition at Roanoke Memorial Hospital Saturday. Clark was released after treatment at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Scott was scheduled to be a witness against Rigney, who was charged last week with armed robbery after allegedly taking $4,000 and a pistol from Charles Beard after holding him at gunpoint and tying him up in his house.

Scott, who saw the robbery, was abducted by Rigney; he escaped after Rigney was arrested in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on a charge of being drunk in public, the sheriff said.

Rogers said Rigney had gone to Scott's mobile home off Virginia 884 in Ridgeway on Friday to talk to him about the case and an argument broke out. Rigney pulled out the pistol and shot Scott in the head, Rogers said. He then shot Clark in the mouth.

A neighbor, Lee Boyd, heard the shots and ran out of his trailer carrying a shotgun loaded with bird shot. He fired once, striking Rigney in the side but not killing him, the sheriff said.

Clark then pulled out a shotgun loaded with buckshot, and shot Rigney in the chest, Rogers said. Rigney was dead on arrival at Memorial Hospital of Martinsville-Henry County.

No charges had been filed by Saturday night, Rogers said. The investigation was continuing.



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