Asheville man sentenced in Blue Ridge Parkway shooting of teen

A Blue Ridge Parkway shooting that sent a 19-year-old to Mission Hospital in critical condition has now ended in a sentence, but the case still raises a basic question for Buncombe County: how safe are the Asheville-area entrances, pull-offs and trailheads that locals and visitors use every day?

The shooting happened around 2 p.m. on May 29, 2024, near milepost 398 in the Asheville area of the Parkway. The victim was a 19-year-old male who was rushed to Mission Hospital after being shot. At the time, officials described the incident as targeted and said there was no broader threat to the public.

That reassurance did little to settle nerves along one of Western North Carolina’s most heavily used scenic corridors. Hikers, campers and drivers were already uneasy in the day after the shooting, when agencies offered few details about what happened and who was responsible. The sentencing now closes one chapter of the case, but it does not erase the concern that violence can reach a federal park road that many Buncombe-area residents treat as part of their regular outdoor routine.

The Blue Ridge Parkway has seen a recent run of high-profile criminal cases in Western North Carolina, including shootings and attempted break-ins that have led to charges and prison terms. In one June 2024 case, a Whittier, North Carolina, man who used Snapchat to find a victim was convicted and sentenced for possession of a firearm during an assault on the Parkway. In another, a Whittier man who reportedly attempted to kidnap two people on the Parkway and fired a gun into the air received a 10-year prison sentence.

Those cases have put added pressure on law enforcement and park officials to explain what residents should expect at Parkway access points around Asheville and Buncombe County. Milepost 398 sits in a stretch that attracts commuters, visitors and people heading to overlooks and trails, which makes the absence of clear public guidance especially notable when a shooting breaks out there.

For people who live in Asheville and the surrounding county, the lesson is not just that one defendant has been sentenced. It is that the Parkway’s reputation as a peaceful federal park corridor now sits beside a harder reality: repeated violent incidents have forced the question of whether patrols, enforcement and visitor warnings have kept pace with the risks.