Family and friends grieve the loss of Rico Turner, murdered by fiancee’s estranged husband

Zane Christian captured in West Virginia after allegedly shooting Turner and carjacking someone in Blacksburg

SALEM, VA. – The Christiansburg man who was wanted for murdering a man in Salem and carjacking someone else in Blacksburg Monday was caught on Tuesday.

Police arrested 25-year-old Zane Chandler Christian nearly 200 miles away, headed west. The Sheriff in Jackson County, West Virginia, which is on the Ohio state line, said his department, along with another local department and the U.S. Marshals, arrested Christian without incident.

Sheriff Ross Mellinger said the arrest was anticlimactic, adding they had Christian’s believed location, and he was the the only one there when they arrived.

Christian was taken to a West Virginia jail and will be transferred back to the area.

According to search warrants filed in court, investigators said Christian was active on Snapchat and was using it while on the run, threatening to hurt others.

“Sgt. Miller has personally observed a recent Snapchat video where this user posted a video talking about sniping people,” the warrant read.

Christian is charged with murder and reckless handling of a firearm for the shooting at Salem’s Lakeside Plaza on Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning the Salem Police Department identified the victim as Rico Turner of Bedford, whose fiancee is Christian’s estranged wife. The motive is unclear.

Turner’s fiancee, as well as three children, were all present when the shooting took place. Christian is also charged with three counts of child neglect.

Search warrants also detail that Turner was alive when police arrived on scene. Both he and his fiancee identified Christian to police by name, social security number and date of birth.

They also identified to police the black BMW sedan that showed up 30 minutes later in the University City Boulevard Shopping Center just off Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg.

Blacksburg Police say Christian carjacked someone at gunpoint there and took off in the stolen vehicle.

It’s unclear where Christian was between the time he left the scene Monday in Blacksburg around 3 p.m. and when he was arrested Tuesday morning by West Virginia authorities. Christian is from Christiansburg. 10 News reached out to a family member who owns a business in the area, but she declined comment.

10 News also spoke with Turner’s family and friends, who declined to go on camera but have expressed their pain on social media.

[GoFundMe created for family of man killed in Salem parking lot shooting]