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Deluge of officers aiding in search

Tactical teams from agencies across the New River Valley — including Wythe, Pulaski, Grayson and Smyth counties, the towns and cities of Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Radford and Pulaski; and Virginia Tech and Radford University — have been working with Virginia State Police and other state agencies and the U.S. Marshals Service in the hunt for shooting suspect Douglas Adam Jaccard.

Each search team is assigned an area, then brought back to the command post for food and rest until it is needed again, Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan of the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office said. Some teams have gone out to search several times a day.

“Just about anybody that’s got any tactical response has offered to help,” he said.

Dunagan said he recognizes that the search may have to be scaled back as agencies need to stop sending their members, partly so they don’t deplete their own forces and partly because they can’t afford to pay them overtime to take part in the search.

But agencies from farther away are offering help, he said. Today, deputies from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office joined the effort.

Church members offer food, comfort to officers

With items from their own kitchen and donations from businesses and community members, Riverview Church of God members have been providing meals and snacks to officers from morning until night. A masseuse has even been on hand.

Since Tuesday, the church off Virginia 100 has been home to the search command post.

The Rev. Raymond White said the church has been glad to help and is grateful for officers’ efforts.

“We’ve covered the church in mud and covered the parking lot in mud, and they just thank us for being here,” Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan of the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office said.

Search moves farther into Pulaski County

Law enforcement officers searching for a man wanted in the shootings of three people have shifted their focus to a Boy Scout camp in Pulaski County.

After spending two full days searching for Douglas Albert Jaccard in the woods and caves near the Wythe-Pulaski County line, investigators moved today into the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation, a 16,000-acre camp that bustles with activity in the summer but is deserted in winter.

“It might be a good place to hole up,” Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan of the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office said. Jaccard, 58, is familiar with the camp, he said.

A tracker with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries got on a trail that led searchers toward Pulaski County late Tuesday, hours after police say Jaccard shot three people in the Barren Springs area of Wythe County.

One of his Dyer Road neighbors, 45-year-old Joseph Bane, was killed. Another neighbor, 61-year-old Jerry Covey, was shot in the arm and is recovering. Pulaski County Deputy J.A. Radcliffe, 46, was shot in the back but was protected from serious injury by his bulletproof vest.

Police also believe Jaccard set fire to Bane’s house while his wife and son were still inside. They escaped without serious injuries.

Since Tuesday morning, teams from agencies in the New River Valley and beyond have combed through the Barren Springs area, working on foot during daylight hours and patrolling by car at night. More than two dozen units patrolled the area off Route 100 Wednesday night, Dunagan said.

Jaccard is very familiar with the area and is skilled with firearms, Dunagan said. It’s too dangerous to have teams on foot in the woods at night, he said.

A command post, where searchers are coordinating their efforts, has been set up since early Tuesday morning at Riverview Church of God, off Route 100 less than a mile from Dyer Road.

On Friday, officers plan to move the command post to another location, Dunagan said. The search has extended so far past its origin and where the post is set up that officers’ radios have begun to reach their service limits.

The new post will be set up closer to the Powhatan Camp in the Boy Scout reservation, Dunagan said.

“If the search extends far beyond our jurisdiction, the state police and marshal’s service are ready to take it over,” he said.

Search for Jaccard enters 3rd day

There has been no sighting of shooting suspect Douglas Albert Jaccard, who has been on the run since just after 7 a.m. Tuesday. Today marks the third day of the investigation.

Jaccard is suspected of shooting and killing one neighbor on Dyer Road in the Barren Springs area of Wythe County, shooting an injuring a second, shooting at several sheriff's deputies and setting a house on fire.

Jaccard is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs about 170 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call 911.

Search teams keep focus on Wythe, Pulaski counties

Authorities have expanded the search area for a Wythe County shooting suspect a little farther north into Pulaski County.

Wythe County Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan said still believe Douglas Albert Jaccard, who has been at large since just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, is in the area. Search teams are also looking through caves along the New River in that area, Dunagan said.

Residents of the half-dozen homes on Dyer Road who were evacuated on Tuesday are allowed back into their homes today, although they say they were told to do so at their own risk.

Meanwhile, a U.S. marshal was injured today during the search. The marshal, who is not being identified cut his leg in a fall while jumping down the same steep cliff that Jaccard jumped. The marshal did require stictches, authorities said.

Jaccard, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran with a criminal history and a pending court case, is familiar with the woods around his Wythe County home and is considered armed and dangerous, Dunagan has said.

According to authorities and witnesses, Jaccard is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Foster Bane, 45, at Bane's Dyer Road home at just past 7 a.m. Tuesday. His neighbor Jerry Covey heard the gunshot, went outside to help and was shot in the arm.

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U.S. marshal hurt during search

A U.S. marshal was injured today during the ongoing search for Wythe County shooting suspect Douglas Albert Jaccard, who has been at large since just after 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The marshal, who is not being identified cut his leg in a fall while jumping down the same steep cliff that Jaccard jumped. The marshal did require stictches.

Authorities continue to concentrate today's search in Wythe and Pulaski counties, although Wythe County Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan said teams have expanded the search area a little farther north into Pulaski County. Dunagan said teams still believe Jaccard is still in the area.

Search teams are also looking through caves along the New River in that area, Dunagan said.

Residents of the half-dozen homes on Dyer Road who were evacuated on Tuesday are allowed back into their homes today, although they say they were told to do so at their own risk.

Deputy remains hospitalized

The Pulaski County sheriff's deputy shot while responding to the shooting and fire Tuesday morning remains hospitalized this morning.

Deputy J.A. Radcliffe, a 14-year veteran of the force, is in stable condition at Pulaski Community Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

No information is being released about shooting victim Jerry Covey, a spokesman for Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital said this morning. Covey, who was shot in the arm, underwent surgery at the hospital Tuesday afternoon, a family member said.

Finally Sharon Bane, who was caught inside her burning home Tuesday morning, has been treated and released from Pulaski Community Hospital, the spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the hunt for Douglas Albert Jaccard, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran with a criminal history and a pending court case, is ongoing this morning.

According to authorities and witnesses, Jaccard is accused of fatally shooting Joseph Foster Bane, 45, at Bane's Dyer Road home at just past 7 a.m. Tuesday. Covey heard the gunshot, went outside to help and was shot in the arm.

After the shootings, Jaccard is accused of breaking into Bane’s house and setting it on fire. Sharon Bane and the Banes’  teenage son were inside.

Sharon Bane was afraid to leave the house at first, authorites have said, believing Jaccard was still there. She finally jumped out a  second-story window. The teenager made it out of the house safely.

Search expected to resume at daybreak

The search for shooting suspect Douglas Jaccard is expected to resume as soon as possible this morning.

Officers from at least 10 jurisdictions have been looking for Jaccard since just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, when he is accused of shooting and killing one neighbor on Dyer Road, shooting an injuring a second, shooting at several sheriff's deputies and setting a house on fire.

Wythe County Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan said Tuesday evening that authorities planned to search for the 58-year-old suspect "until we know that he's not out here anymore or until he is arrested."

They planned to concentrate their efforts in Wythe and Pulaski counties.

Jaccard is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs about 170 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call 911.

Jaccard had been released from prison in 2005

Douglas Albert Jaccard

Authorities from at least 10 agencies have been searching for Douglas Albert Jaccard since after 7 a.m. today. Authorites say they believe Jaccard is carrying a high-powered rifle.

Wythe County Chief Deputy Keith Dunagan said tracking teams have found several items believed to belong to Jaccard. Dunagan would not say what the items are, although he did confirm they are not articles of clothing. The discovery, he said, suggests that tracking teams are looking in the right area for Jaccard.

Jaccard was last seen running into the woods toward the New River Bridge on Virginia 100. That is where tracking teams have been working. Authorities believed earlier this afternoon that he was heading north toward Pulaski.

In addition to Joseph Bane and Jerry Covey, Jaccard is suspected of shooting Pulaski County sheriff's Deputy J.A. Ratcliffe in the lower back. His bulletproof vest protected him from the bullet, Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis said.

Ratcliffe is being held at Pulaski Community Hospital for observation this afternoon. "He's in great shape," the sheriff says.

The suspect also fired shots at two Wythe County deputies; they were not injured, Dunagan said.

Authorities have evacuated the houses on Dyer Road and have notified residents on Route 100 and advised them to keep their doors locked and make sure there are no keys in their vehicles.

Jaccard is 5 foot 8 inches tall, weighs about 170 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call 911.

Jaccard had recently been released on bond from the New River Valley Regional Jail.

He was scheduled to be in Wythe County Circuit Court on Wednesday to begin pre-trial motions on four separate charges, indecent liberties with a minor, indecent liberties with a child, abduction and possession of explosive materials, according to court documents.

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Family member identifies shooting victims

A family member has identified the man who was fatally shot this morning.

Sarah Hicks said it was her brother-in-law, Joseph Bane, who was shot and killed outside his house on Dyer Road in the Draper community of Wythe County.

Hick's father, Jerry Covey, 61, lives nearby and heard the gunshot. He went outside to to help and was shot in the arm, Hicks said. Covey is at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in surgery, Hicks said.

After the shootings, Hicks said Douglas Albert Jaccard broke into her brother-in-law's house and set it on fire. Hicks sister, Sharon Bane, and her 14-year-old son were inside. Sharon Bane jumped from a second story window and is at Pulaski Community Hospital being treated for injuries from the fall. Hicks' nephew made it out safely.

She said that Jaccard has been troubling her family for months, and on Sunday threatened to "take care of us."

The family on Sunday notified the Wythe County Sheriff's Office about the threat, Hicks said.

Photo above: A house on Dyer Road burns and police cars line the street during the manhunt for Douglas Albert Jaccard. Photo by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

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