GRUNDY, Va. -- Black and blue ribbons fluttered in the breeze during the slight drizzle in downtown Grundy Monday, a symbol of the community still reeling from the loss of two sheriff's deputies and rallying behind two other officers hospitalized due to a weekend shooting incident.
Buchanan County Sheriff's Deputies Cameron Neil Justus and William "Billy" Ezra Stiltner were killed in the line of duty Sunday afternoon while Deputies Eric Rasnake and Shane Charles remain in serious condition at two separate Tennessee hospitals, all stemming from a shooting incident near Vansant.
At a vigil held for the fallen officers and their family in downtown Grundy Monday night, a crowd of around 500 or more mourners came out to light candles and show their support for the deputies and their families.
Deputy Alan Honaker began the service with a prayer and a statement to the crowd.
"It says so much that so many would come out here on a cold, rainy evening in support of these officers," Honaker said. "There are no words we can say to alleviate this pain."
Sheriff Ray Foster next tearfully addressed the crowd, holding to the arm of Linda Stiltner, the wife of Deputy Stiltner who was killed Sunday.
"I'm very glad to see everyone out," Foster said. "I hate that you had to come out for this. This community will pull together. We will get through this as a community and as a department. I've lived here all my life and I've seen us through."
Buchanan County Sheriff's Department Chaplain Jim Cox led a reading from Corinthians 15:52 before Drew Lumpkin from Sen. Mark Warner's office read a statement issued by the senator on the tragedy. As the candles were lit, Buchanan County Commonwealth Attorney Tamara Neo lead the crowd in singing "Amazing Grace."
Before the ceremony could conclude, a shout rang out from the crowd.
"Sheriff Foster," the man shouted, "We support you and your men."
Foster responded quickly.
"Yes," he said. "Remember our boys and what they did."
Mary Carter, 59, of Grundy, Va. was one of the many who came out to the vigil well before it started to show support.
"We came here for the family, for all of the families," Carter said. "I know Billy Stiltner and Shane Charles. Shane was our bass player at church. We are praying for the all. God Bless Sheriff Foster and his deputies."
Patty Mullins, 55, of Grundy, Va. came bearing a poster with all of the deputies. Next to Stiltner and Justus, she had attached two black ribbons with two brown ribbons taped to the pictures of wounded deputies Rasnake and Charles.
"I work with the sheriff's department through the American Cancer Society Relay for Life," Mullins said. "The deputies have a team and are very supportive. Shane has the most beautiful voice. I'm here for our law enforcement . We just pray for them and send them open arm hugs to all of them. This was just tragic for our small community."
John Whited with the Grundy Veteran's of Foreign wars had come to the vigil with several other VFW members to honor the fallen officers and especially Justus, a fellow U.S. Army veteran.
"It's just to honor these guys who put their lives on the line," Whited said. "They don't always get the appreciation they deserve. It's out of respect for the family and those who sacrificed our lives for their country we're here. They took an oath to defend us and died doing so. This is a sad situation for everyone."
Throughout the day Monday, members of the community dealt with the loss of two of their own in a variety of ways.
Donald Tittler is the pastor of Grundy Baptist Church where the vigil took place and has been one of the many local ministers helping the Buchanan County Sheriff's Department deal with their grief. The sign outside the church was changed Monday afternoon to read: "God is near to the brokenhearted" in reference to Psalm 34:18.
"It's the verse that comes to my heart when I prayed with the general district court employees and when I left the sheriff's department yesterday," Tittler said. "They called and asked for chaplains and I, along with the pastor of the Vansant Baptist Church and another counselor with our church, made ourselves available. Watching the families gather together was humbling, but spoke to the resilience of this community."
Tittler said he was also impressed with Buchanan County Sheriff Ray Foster as he comforted the families of the victims as well as his deputies.
"He acted as a concerned almost pastor figure or as a father figure to them," Tittler said. "I think he was very open with the families and put his own interests aside to better care for them."
During the day, Tittler said he has seen how local residents have been affected.
"It's just shock," he said. "If effects everyone differently. I've talked to a lady who knew both one of the officers and the man who did this. We have seen an outpouring from our families. This community is very generous with it's love and moral support. If it affects one of us, it affects us all. What will help this community recover is it's strong faith. That will guide us through the darkness."
Tittler said he hopes most of all that those involved or who witnessed the incident will come out into the community for support.
"Our concern in the pastoral community is for where this all transpired," he said. "People were told to go into their houses and lock their does. We hope that now they don't stay behind those doors but come out and ask for the help to process what has happened."
Deliveries of hot meals and flower arrangements arrived at the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office in downtown Grundy throughout the day while community members stop by, offering hugs and words of comfort to the officers suffering the loss of two of their own.
Adonna Mullins is co-owner of Grundy Flowers and Gifts, the floral shop that began distributing the black and blue ribbons.
Mullins said she has filled at least half a dozen floral arrangements for the sheriff's department and estimates she will do about 75 to 100 for both the Stiltner and Justus families.
Mullins knew Stiltner throughout her school days and said his death has been a shock.
"We've been filling orders all day, a lot of them just for the sheriff's department to show the community supports them and is behind them," Mullins said. "We created the black and blue ribbons because that was requested by the sheriff's department. The black honors the dead and blue is the color of Grundy. We made up about 40 for the department and then other businesses have come and bought bigger ones for their doors. A lot of the ribbons have gone to businesses and others have gone to individuals."
"I've known Billy Stiltner my whole life and I've known him and his wife Linda my whole life," Mullins said as she put together a quilt arrangement ordered by one of the deputies for the Stiltner and Justus families. "I went to school with Billy from kindergarten all the way through high school. One of our employee's, her fiance was Neil's best friend. He's going to be a pallbearer at the funeral."
Mullins said she herself is still dealing with the tragedy as she continues to make arrangements for the deputies' funerals.
"We came through the Vansant area from our farm in Abingdon last night and we knew something was going on," Mullins said. "I've had anxiety all day yesterday and all day today."
According to Mullins, everyone in the area has been connected to the tragedy somehow.
"Its personal when it happens here," she said. "There isn't anyone who didn't know one of the officers. It hits home. It's effected everyone. Something like this is devastating because everyone is kin or knows someone who's kin. It's a ripple affect."
Vanessa Charles, owner of Vanessa Charles Insurance Services, LLC went to high school with Justice and hung a ribbon on the door of her business in downtown Grundy to show support for the officers and their families.
"I wanted to pay my respects," Charles said. "We're feeling a lot of shock. Normally, we don't have murders or killings here."
Charles went to school with Justus and said she often saw both him and Stiltner when they walked the sidewalk in front of her office.
"I graduated high school with Neil and he was such a wonderful, wonderful guy," Charles said. "He will be sadly missed. He was just a great guy, an awesome guy. I would see him and (Stiltner) outside my offices and they both were always so friendly."
Brad Parke, 35, is a first year student at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy and said the shooting has been talked about on campus. The school itself endured a deadly shooting incident years before and Parke said his professors have encouraged their students to show support to their future fellow partners in law enforcement.
"A couple of our professors mentioned the vigils tonight and encouraged us to go," Parke said. "We want to show our support."
The campus has put up black and blue ribbons as well to honor the fallen deputies.
"We have a special connection with law enforcement here," Parke said. "We will work hand-in-hand with them once we graduate, but our job doesn't entail us being in the line of fire. Whenever these guys go out, they put their lives on the line every day. I'm sure everyone is just devastated. Stuff like this doesn't happen around here. This is just a close knit community."
The Italian Village Restaurant across the street from the Sheriff's Department has also hung a black and blue ribbon on it's door in support of the officers, many of whom frequent the restaurant daily. Darlene Shelton, one of the restaurant's employees, knew Stiltner and often waited upon him and his wife, Linda.
"I knew Bill and his wife," Shelton said. "They would come in here all the time and he was just as nice as can we. We'll really miss him. The officers come in here for lunch and we see them, joke with them. It's just awful what happened. It was just frantic yesterday. I was visiting my mother and we could hear the sirens going off all afternoon."
Originally from Richlands, Va., Shelton said she admires how the residents of Buchanan County have come together in the wake of the tragedy.
This is just the nicest community and his the nicest people, just the nicest people," Shelton said. "They come together. It's just amazing to see how people come together in the face of tragedy."
Donations to support the families of all four deputies can be made to the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office Memorial Fund for Deputies at the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office at P.O. Box 970 Grundy, VA, 24614.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
