Man sentenced to 24 years in Mars Hill attempted murder, carjacking of postal worker
ASHEVILLE - A Weaverville man who pleaded guilty in the September 2023 attempted murder and carjacking of a U.S. postal worker was sentenced to 24 years.
Jaden Isaiah Garay, 25, was federally indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in October 2023 after the Sept. 5, 2023, shooting of Hot Springs resident Teresa Ramsay. Garay's sentencing was March 13 at federal court in Asheville.
Garay was captured early Sept. 6 in Morganton after a manhunt went on through the night.
On Sept. 5, 2023, Mars Hill University went into lockdown just before 1:15 p.m. after officers with Mars Hill Police Department and Madison County Sheriff's Office responded to "an individual with severe injuries and the theft of their vehicle" located just off Main Street near Spring Drive.
Garay pleaded guilty to two counts of carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury and four counts of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to court documents, Garay was ordered to pay $715,000 in restitution, including $641,000 to Ramsay and $74,000 to the Office of Workers Compensation Program.
Ramsay's daughter, Scarlet Ramsay, started a GoFundMe page to help with the medical costs associated with Ramsay's injury.
On the page, Scarlet Ramsay also detailed the injuries sustained by her mother. She said her mother underwent surgery Sept. 8, 2023, to remove her left eye and perform facial reconstruction.
Rhett Johnson, an assistant federal defender with Federal Public Defender's Western District of North Carolina, served as Garay's lawyer.
According to court documents, on Sept. 5, 2023, Garay engaged in an argument with his mother and step-father at their Weaverville residence, where they lived together.
During the course of the argument, Garay stole a loaded Glock 48 .9-mm. semiautomatic handgun that belonged to his parents and departed the residence around 10:30 a.m. driving his 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor.
Just before 11 a.m., Ramsay began her mail route in Mars Hill, driving her personal right-side-drive Jeep Wrangler.
At around 11:50 a.m., court documents said, Garay, who was driving eastbound along Interstate 26 near Exit 11 for Mars Hill, fired the Glock pistol into another vehicle that had a 17-year-old passenger and was also headed eastbound along I-26, shattering the front passenger window and lodging a bullet in the vehicle.
A short time after, Garay exited I-26 and drove into the town of Mars Hill before abandoning his car at Mars Hill Dentistry's parking lot on South Main Street.
Garay then broke into a residence on Spring Drive, where he encountered the homeowner and displayed the Glock 48 and took the Spring Drive resident's cellphone, according to the documents.
"Garay stomped on the cell phone and tried to break it, but was unable to do so, and instead kept the phone," the court documents said.
Garay then threatened to shoot the resident's dog and told her to get on her knees, but she refused.
The Spring Drive homeowner is listed as "M.E." in the court documents.
"M.E. refused to do so and told GARAY that if he wanted to shoot her, he would have to shoot her standing up," the court documents said, adding that Garay then went into the resident's garage to start one of her vehicles, but was unable to do so, and continued walking through the neighborhood.
After leaving the Spring Drive residence, Garay encountered Ramsay, who was delivering mail to a mailbox from her Jeep Wrangler.
According to the documents, Garay approached Ramsay and told her, "I am being chased by evil spirits" and "evil spirits are following me," to which Ramsay replied, "I love Jesus, I'll pray with, brother, when I finish scanning these," as she was then in the process of scanning a mail item.
In response, Garay said, "I need your car" and he then pointed the Glock 48 handgun at Ramsay, listed as "T.R." in the documents.
"T.R. attempted to comply with Garay's demand, but had to pull forward slightly to exit the vehicle because her door was blocked by a mailbox," the court documents said. "T.R. also attempted to retrieve her cellphone.
"Garay then shot T.R. in the face with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury and for the purpose of taking her motor vehicle. T.R. fell out of her vehicle and to the ground."
As Ramsay's Jeep Wrangler contained all the mail she had not yet delivered that day, Garay drove out of Mars Hill and sometime later that afternoon on Sept. 5 dumped most of the stolen mail in the driveway of a Weaverville residence, documents said.
Shortly before 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5, Garay engaged law enforcement officers in a high-speed chase, as Burke County Communications advised the Burke County Sheriff's Office of a high-speed chase that was occurring in McDowell County and was about to enter Burke County on Interstate 40.
Garay was seen at 4:24 a.m. Sept. 6 after detectives noticed him appearing to look into cars in the parking area of one of the cottages on the J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center property, a state-operated developmental center for the western region of the state.
At 4:57 a.m., Garay was spotted in the field across from the Burke County Jail on Government Drive, and was taken into custody at 5 a.m., according to the Burke County Sheriff's Office.
More: Man to be sentenced in Mars Hill attempted murder, postal vehicle carjacking
More: Weaverville man pleads guilty in attempted murder, carjacking of Mars Hill postal worker
More: Update: Mars Hill carjacking suspect charged with attempted murder, Sheriff's Office says
More: Mars Hill University lockdown lifted after suspected carjacking of U.S. Mail vehicle
Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger issued the sentence, while Assistant U.S. Attorney David Thorneloe served as the prosecutor in the sentencing hearing.
As of March 17, the GoFundMe had raised roughly $29,000. To donate to the GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/teresa-ramsay-medical-fund.
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Garay sentenced to 24 years in Mars Hill attempted murder, carjacking
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