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Printed Sept. 24, 2000
By ZEKE BARLOW
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Ronald Gay didn't like his last name.
In between his violent spats and drunken stupors, he complained his name was supposed to mean "happy," not "homosexual," according to his ex-wife, Laura Ramsey.
Ramsey said Gay, 53, felt a lifelong torment over his name, but didn't openly hate homosexuals. Friday night would suggest something different. Gay is suspected of shooting seven people in a Roanoke gay bar Friday night, killing one.
That it happened after Gay, a Vietnam War veteran who complained of post traumatic stress disorder, spent the day drinking was no surprise to Ramsey, who lives in Florida.
For those who spent Friday with Gay at the Jefferson Motor Lodge on Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke, the news of Gay's arrest seemed shocking at first, then made sense in hindsight.
He spoke of death, religion, violence and of never coming back.
Shortly after he checked into the hotel Friday afternoon, he extended his arm with a Marine Corps tattoo to Virgil Glover and offered him a cigarette. Later, it was bourbon he offered, then money, his glasses and his room key. He was like a man preparing for his suicide.
"He said, if he wasn't back by morning, turn on the 8 o'clock news -- that's all he said," before he left the hotel Friday night, Glover said.
"He was an awful friendly guy it seemed," Glover said Saturday, as he stood just outside Gay's hotel room.
Now, Glover realizes Gay said and did some peculiar things.
At one point, Gay was sitting on the balcony watching a group of Christian singers in Elmwood Park. He saw two police officers ride by on appaloosa horses. Glover said that Gay, with a Bible beside him, said, "Death rides a pale horse."
Glover thought Gay was talking about the Bible. "I thought he had just read it in Revelations," Glover said. "Who would have thought the man had a gun in the room right there."
Glover said Gay didn't seem like a killer, but now Glover believes it was not a random comment.
"I think he was indicating something. I think he believed he was the justice, prosecutor and executioner," he said.
At first, Gay seemed to be a kind, giving man to Glover.
Gay gave $2 to the 2-year-old granddaughter of Virgil Glover's friend Kay Lawrence, then later bought two large pizzas for Glover, Lawrence and five of her relatives.
Gay said he bought the pizzas because he wouldn't see them anymore, according to Tanya Crookshank, another of Lawrence's granddaughters.
When Lawrence's grandson carried a table up to Gay's balcony, Gay gave him $5. Then he gave Crookshank a portable radio, and Lawrence a country-western tape called "Crying in the Chapel" to "listen to when you are sad," Lawrence said Gay told her.
He even offered one of Lawrence's children a shirt to wear when he thought she was cold. Gay was wearing that same shirt when he was arrested.
He showered about 9:30 p.m., then gave Glover his room key. He reeked of bourbon, Glover said.
"You got my key," Lawrence remembered Gay saying. "I may not be back. If not you can have my stuff in the room."
Gay said he was going to grab a hamburger and watch some fireworks.
Three hours later, he was arrested on a first-degree murder charge.
All this came as no surprise to Ramsey, Gay's fifth ex-wife.
Gay walked out on Ramsey and their 18-month-old son two years ago. She said the only time she saw him again was when he busted into her house on Father's Day this year, assaulting her and her new husband. She took out a restraining order and filed charges against Gay, she says.
"It doesn't surprise me that he killed somebody," she said.
Gay was often drinking Canadian whiskey and he always had a gun, Ramsey said. Once, she came home to find Gay with a gun to his head while their 6-month-old son sat on the floor. Ramsey said on one drunken Christmas, Gay started masturbating in front of her mother.
Gay was being treated at different Veterans Affairs hospitals for his post traumatic stress disorder, Ramsey said. She said he described Vietnam as a bloody confusion of fighting and picking up his buddies' body parts.
Ramsey said Gay told her he came to Virginia to get treated. He had no fixed address but had been in Roanoke for about a year, police said. He frequented Sharon's Graffiti and Tony's Place, both on Salem Avenue a few blocks from the site of the shooting. He never said much and kept to himself, regulars said.
He often talked about building a house in Virginia and settling down here, Ramsey said.
Saturday night, Gay was in Roanoke. Alone, in a city jail cell.
Staff writers Jon Cawley and Ron Nixon contributed to this story.
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