Marshals arrest Chesterfield man, charge him with Ga. shootings

A Chesterfield County man was arrested yesterday on charges of shooting his daughter and her mother in Georgia in an attack that may have stemmed from a child-support dispute.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force in Richmond arrested Roy Mandell Smith, 38, shortly after he left a girlfriend's house about 3:30 a.m. in the 6400 block of Cosmic Road.

"As about seven of us are approaching the house with a shield, he basically comes out and walks right at us," said Kevin Connolly, the task force's supervisory inspector. "There was no doubt who he was."

Smith was wanted in the Monday shootings of his 16-year-old daughter and her 37-year-old mother, who were ambushed at their home in Valdosta, Ga., a city of 50,000 about 20 miles north of the Florida state line.

Both victims are expected to recover.

Smith, a felon, was initially served with a probation violation from Georgia and later charged with two counts of aggravated assault stemming from Monday's double shooting.

Authorities said Smith returned to Chesterfield, where he lives with a family member, after allegedly shooting Josephine Lonon, his former common-law wife, and their daughter, Rochelle Smith.

Although the motive is still being investigated, police said Smith was recently served with child-support papers related to his daughter.

Valdosta police Lt. Aaron Kirk said Smith first confronted Lonon after she left her home about 6:45 a.m. to go to work.

Smith's daughter apparently heard the commotion and walked outside but then retreated into the house after seeing Smith. "He then followed her and shot her inside the house" before fleeing, Kirk said.

Mother and daughter were taken to South Georgia Medical Center with gunshot wounds.

Lonon was shot multiple times, including near her eye, but is expected to recover. Rochelle Smith was shot in the jaw; she was treated and released, police said.

Kirk said Roy Smith and Lonon once lived together as a couple but apparently were never legally married.

Connolly said Smith was released on parole several years ago after serving 10 years in a Georgia prison for distribution of cocaine. His parole was transferred to Virginia, and he has been living in Chesterfield for several years, Connolly said.

Valdosta police contacted Richmond and Chesterfield police Monday night about Smith's possible whereabouts. Those agencies then enlisted the help of the U.S. Marshals Service task force -- of which local police agencies are members -- to locate him.

"We rolled out . . . about 11 p.m.," Connolly said.

They first checked a family member's home where Smith apparently had been staying in the 4000 block of Falconway Lane. When they didn't find him there, they went to the Cosmic Road address.

Smith immediately surrendered after leaving the house.

"He had to have seen us out the window," Connolly said. "Why would he leave at 3:30 in the morning?"

Police found no weapons on Smith or inside his girlfriend's house.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .