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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994                   TAG: 9403030095
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TRUCK-STOP SHOTS CLAIM 2ND VICTIM

Timothy Ruhl walked into the Lancer Truck Stop in Ironto about 9 p.m. Saturday and made a split-second decision to try to stop a killer.

Wednesday, a few minutes before 1 p.m., the 29-year-old truck driver from Mount Joy, Pa., died from a bullet wound to the neck in Roanoke Memorial Hospital - the second victim of a Saturday shooting spree that ended when the gunman, Elbert L. Goodwin, shot himself.

Ruhl was shot as he attempted to stop Goodwin from leaving the truck stop. He had walked into the store and found the body of clerk Sandra K. Brown on the floor, police said.

Ruhl called 911. Then - realizing Brown had been shot - he tried to stop Goodwin from leaving, telling the gunman, "You're not going anywhere." Goodwin turned and fired.

Brown, 37, of Radford, died at the scene. Minutes later, Goodwin, 55, took his own life near his home on Poor Mountain Road in Roanoke County.

Ruhl's brother, Ray, also of Mount Joy, said Wednesday night that Timothy Ruhl "was never afraid to help people out."

"It's just a horrible thing," he said. "You really never think about it happening to your own family."

Miller Funeral Home in Elizabethtown, Pa., is handling the funeral arrangements.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB