Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Chesterfield, VA: Chesterfield man fatally shot after encounter with ex-girlfriend

By MARK BOWES
Published: May 24, 2011
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Police are investigating the circumstances of an early-morning shooting that left a Chesterfield County man dead after he forced his way into his ex-girlfriend's home, took her cellphone and was confronted by a neighbor.

Gordon T. Ragland, 41, was shot in the chest Monday about 1 a.m. during what police described as a domestic disturbance in the 13800 block of Buck Rub Drive in Chesterfield's Deer Run subdivision.

Officers responding to the disturbance found Ragland in the roadway, where he died a short time later, police said.

"It's very upsetting," said Dawn Bonura, a close family friend of Ragland's.

Bonura, who said Ragland was an employee of her family's construction business and had stayed with them for three weeks, said the confrontation occurred after Ragland went to his ex-girlfriend's house about 1 a.m. to talk.

"I think they were basically ending their relationship, but they had seen each other in the past couple of weeks," she said.

The two had traded text messages earlier in the evening, with Ragland having done so at Bonura's house, said Bonura, who discussed the incident with Ragland's former girlfriend after the shooting.

After Ragland arrived, he broke through his ex-girlfriend's front door, and they talked briefly inside before Ragland took the woman's cellphone to see whom she had been calling or texting, Bonura said.

Ragland then went out into the street with the phone, while his former girlfriend went next door to have her neighbor call 911, Bonura said. The neighbor then went outside, and a confrontation ensued, leading to the fatal shooting, Bonura said.

"She didn't know what went on after that," Bonura said. "All that she knows is that he was killed."

Police declined to provide details of the fatal encounter, saying the incident remains under investigation.

After Ragland was shot, the neighbor — whose identity was not released and who apparently has some training as a paramedic — "was running around looking for" his emergency medical gear to tend to Ragland's injuries, Bonura said.

Bonura said Ragland, also known as "G.T.," had been drinking that night but wasn't intoxicated. She also says he was unarmed. "He doesn't own guns. He's not that type of person. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body as far as physically hurting anyone."

mbowes@timesdispatch.com

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