FREE RIDE ENDS IN HOMICIDE

Roanoke Police Investigate Late Night Carjacking In N.W. A Young Salem Man
Says He Was Pistol-Whipped And His Friend Was Found After A Four-Hour
Search Shot Dead.

The offer of a ride from two young Salem men to someone at a Northwest
Roanoke convenience store turned deadly Tuesday night when one of the men
was robbed and the other shot to death, police said.

Benjamin Chastang, 19, said he was pistol-whipped and robbed of his jewelry
and car while his friend Ryan Fischer, 22, was shot in the back of the
neck, apparently while trying to run away. His body was not found until
more than four hours later.

Police are still investigating the offered ride and how the two Salem men
ended up at the Z Mart at Melrose Avenue and Forest Park Boulevard - a
store that's seen trouble with drugs and shootings.

In February, two Salem teens told police they were beaten when they refused
to buy drugs outside the store. In May, a 24-year-old Roanoke man stumbled
across the street and died after being shot at the store. It's also the
place where VH1, a group of young male neighborhood residents call a gang,
is said to hang out.

But Chastang said Wednesday that he and Fischer had just stopped for a cool
drink while driving around.

No drugs were involved and he is offended that police even thought so,
Chastang said. Although he is awaiting trial in Salem on charges of
marijuana possession with the intent to distribute, "it's a false charge,"
he said.

"They treated it like a drug deal gone wrong," he said of Tuesday night's
events. "Like if there were white guys on Melrose, they were there for
drugs. It's not a drug-related incident at all."

Chastang said they had come from Salem along Main Street, following the
road into Roanoke, where it becomes Melrose Avenue. While they were
driving, the friends were watching a movie on a DVD player.

They stopped at Z Mart about 11 p.m. and Fischer went in for drinks,
Chastang said. Fischer got a Dr Pepper and Chastang a grape Gatorade. Then
a man asked them for a ride.

Chastang had seen the man before, and Fischer said he knew him. So they
allowed him to jump into the back seat of Chastang's Chevrolet Impala, and
Chastang followed directions. A few minutes later, after telling Chastang
where to turn, the man thanked them and got out of the car near Aspen and
Clifton streets.

"Appreciate the ride," he told Chastang.

The man didn't walk away, Chastang said, but came around to the driver's
side and told Chastang there was something wrong with the chrome "Impala
SS" emblem on the rear quarter panel. The two Salem men got out of the car.

Before he could realize what was happening, Chastang was pistol-whipped
three times on the left side of the head, he said. He was ordered to the
ground, and his Rolex watch, gold bracelets, a ring and about $100 in cash
were taken. He couldn't see Fischer on the other side of the car and
figured he had run off.

Then he heard gunshots.

Two other men had showed up by then. Chastang heard them open and close the
trunk, and then drive away with his car. He grabbed his cellphone and
called the police. When officers arrived within minutes after the 11:27
p.m. call, Chastang told them his friend was missing.

Police searched Chastang, boots and all, but didn't find any drugs. He was
taken back to Z Mart to wait for his brother to pick him up. All the while,
he was worrying about Fischer.

Fischer wasn't found until 4 a.m., when a resident on Prillaman Avenue,
which is near Clifton and Aspen, left for work.

Chastang said Wednesday that he didn't think police did enough Tuesday
night to find his friend, but according to police spokeswoman Shelly Alley,
officers issued descriptions of the Impala and Fischer as soon as they had
them. Officers looked around the area, but didn't see Fischer at first.

"All the northside units were just scouring for him all night," Alley said.
Chastang said he, his mother and Fischer's family called the police
repeatedly throughout the night to ask officers to look.

Neighborhood residents said they heard the shots. About the time Chastang
was calling 911, a resident called the police to report that someone was
trying to break into her house. Chastang now thinks that it might have been
Fischer, banging on someone's door for help.

"He might have died instantly. He might have been lying there waiting an
hour for someone to help," said Nick Chastang, Ben Chastang's brother and a
friend of Fischer's. "He never did nothing in life to deserve the way he died."

Fischer's death is Roanoke's seventh homicide this year, one less than last
year's total.

Fischer, a Salem High School graduate, had worked as a technician at Jiffy
Lube on Virginia 419 for about three months, manager Miles Stanley said.
Even in that time, Fischer had proved to be a model employee and had just
gotten a raise, Stanley said.

When Stanley hired Fischer, he knew the young man had had problems with
alcohol. Fischer, according to Salem court records, had been convicted of a
second offense of drunken driving in June. But Stanley said he knew Fischer
was serious about getting his life on track.

"He was at the fork in the road, and he got on the right path," Stanley
said. "I couldn't ask for a better employee. ... Why would someone do that
to Ryan?"

Fischer, his friends said, loved cars and owned three Chevy Impalas - two
'69s and a '71. He fixed them up himself and proudly showed off his work,
said fellow employee James Ingram. Fischer also doted on his 1-year-old
German shepherd, Duchess, which his family named in his obituary.

"We loved him to death," Patty Dillon said of her nephew. "He was a good
boy. He was a sweetheart."

Police are still looking for Chastang's green 1996 Impala, which has SS on
the side, chrome wheels and the Virginia license tag YRC-1172. Anyone with
information can call Roanoke police at 853-2571 or Crime Line at 344-8500.