Bus Driver Charged in One of Two Slayings Near Terminal

Prince William County authorities have charged a Woodbridge bus driver with killing a fellow driver -- one of two men found fatally shot Monday morning near a bus terminal -- but police say it is unclear who shot the second man or how the confrontation transpired.

Glenn K. Wade, 40, turned himself in Monday evening at a county police station and has been charged with murder in the shooting of Darnell McPherson, 32, a contracted bus driver with the Potomac and Rappahannock Transit Commission, police said.

McPherson and William E. Anderson Jr., 34, were found shot not far from a sport-utility vehicle that had bullet holes in it, parked on the side of Telegraph Road near PRTC headquarters. McPherson was found in a PRTC parking lot, and Anderson was found in a wooded area near Interstate 95, police said. Both died a short time later.

A handgun was recovered nearby, and police are investigating whether the three men engaged in a shootout.

Wade is also a contracted driver for PRTC, police said, and he shared the same address as Anderson on Wren Court in Woodbridge, though police did not specify their relationship. A man who answered the door there declined to comment, as did Wade's attorney, Charles D. Smith.

Police said McPherson and Wade were involved in an altercation before the shootings, but 1st Sgt. Kim Chinn, a police spokeswoman, said it was unclear what the dispute was about or whether it led to the shootings.

Chinn said Wade has not been cooperative with investigators.

"The investigation is ongoing," Chinn said. "We don't know what happened. We're going to have to probably rely on some forensic evidence."

Chinn said the blue SUV that was found at the crime scene belonged to McPherson, but it is not known whether one or both of the victims were in the car at the time of the shootings.

The shootings caused the PRTC headquarters to be placed on lockdown and touched off a massive manhunt that involved canine units and a Fairfax County police helicopter. The PRTC facility, in addition to being the commission's headquarters, is a bus terminal and the main transfer point for passengers in eastern Prince William.

Wade and McPherson were employees of First Transit, a Cincinnati-based firm that contracts with PRTC to supply bus maintenance and drivers, said Glenda Lamont, a First Transit spokeswoman. Wade has been working for First Transit for five years, and McPherson, of Dale City, had been with the company for one year, Lamont said.

Lamont said all drivers undergo "extensive" background checks for criminal and traffic infractions, and nothing in either man's past "would have indicated anything that could have resulted in this."

PRTC spokeswoman Christine Rodrigo said the shootings and the charge against Wade have come as a shock to employees.

"It's a real subdued atmosphere around here today with just people trying to cope with losing one of our operators, and discovering that another of our operators is accused in the crime," Rodrigo said.

Wade is being held without bond and is due in court Sept. 15.

Researcher Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.