DATE: Tuesday, September 2, 1997            TAG: 9709020103

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                        LENGTH:   30 lines

3 BROTHERS ACCUSED OF KILLING FLORIDIAN AT BLACKSBURG CLUB

Three brothers have been charged with murder in the weekend slaying of a Florida man in a crowded dance club across from Virginia Tech.

Leon A. Scales of Radford and his twin brothers, Terry L. Scales and Kerry M. Scales, both of Martinsville, were charged with first-degree murder, malicious wounding and two counts of using a firearm in a felony, police said.

The shooting occurred early Sunday morning after the brothers argued with two other men over dancing with a woman, Blacksburg Police Chief Bill Brown said.

Police found Richard Bullard, 30, on the dance floor with multiple gunshot wounds. Bullard of Pensacola, Fla., was pronounced dead on arrival at Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital.

Paul Shoemaker, 29, of Beaverdale, Miss., was also injured and taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. His condition was not released, at the request of his family.

The victims were in Blacksburg for a wedding, Brown said.

Witnesses told police that three men involved in the shooting ran out a back door, Brown said.

Police arrested Leon Scales a few blocks from the dance club several hours after the shooting. His brothers were arrested Sunday. The three were held in the Montgomery County Jail on $100,000 bond. KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING

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