Justin Barkley.jpg

Justin Barkley

(Ithaca Police Department)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Moments before his death, William E. Schumacher stood inside an Ithaca Wal-Mart laughing with a stranger.

Schumacher, a UPS driver, was in line behind another customer early Thursday morning during a break, the customer told the Ithaca Police Department in a witness statement filed in court. The witness said he and Schumacher made "small talk" about oversized lighters for sale near the register.

Schumacher appeared to be in a good mood -- laughing and exchanging jokes as he waited in line, the witness said.

Minutes later, Schumacher was shot and run over outside Wal-Mart by a man he had never met, said the Ithaca Police Department.

Schumacher, 52, of Candor, died early Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Fairgrounds Memorial Parkway store. Justin Barkley, 38, of 1279 Dryden Road, Dryden, was arrested after an hourslong standoff and charged with murdering Schumacher.

The two men did not know each other and had never interacted before the fatal shooting, police said. When asked if Barkley told officers what motivated the shooting, Officer Jamie William declined to comment.

Schumacher was a seasonal tractor-trailer driver for UPS, said Susan Rosenberg, a UPS spokesperson. This season marked Schumacher's second year as a seasonal driver, she said.

One person was sitting in Wal-Mart's Fairgrounds Memorial Parkway playing games on a cellphone around 12:20 a.m. when a UPS truck pulled into the store's parking lot, the witness told police. The witness saw Schumacher enter Wal-Mart and walk out about 15 minutes later carrying what looked like a drink in a shopping bag.

The witness saw Schumacher walk toward his UPS truck. A few minutes later, the witness heard what sounded like an "explosion" and the screech of tires.

"I could feel the vibration from the explosion sound," the witness said.

The customer who had stood in front of Schumacher in line was scratching off a phone card in the parking lot when a "loud crack" sounded, the witness said. The witness told police it sounded like a firecracker.

The witness looked up and saw a man fall forward, the witness said.

"It took me a couple minutes to realize the male who fell outside was the male who was behind me in line," the witness said.

After seeing Schumacher collapse, the witness noticed a man sitting in the driver's seat of a nearby truck, the witness told police. The man leaned his head outside of his truck's window and looked back at the place where Schumacher had fallen, the witness said.

The man eventually pulled his head back into his truck, rolled up his window and backed out of his parking space, the witness said. He then drove forward and ran over Schumacher, the witness said.

"The white male in the truck did not appear to be in a hurry until after he ran over the guy on the ground," the witness told police. "He rolled up his window and backed out of his parking spot like a normal customer."

The witness called 911 as the truck sped out of the Wal-Mart parking lot onto Route 13. When the Ithaca Police Department arrived on scene soon after, Schumacher was dead and the shooter was gone.

After the shooting, law enforcement officers across Tompkins County kept watch for the truck that had sped away from the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Officers eventually spotted a truck matching suspect descriptions traveling on Route 13, police have said. They tried to pull the truck over, but Barkley -- the driver of the truck -- refused to stop, police said.

Officers followed Barkley as he turned into his driveway and his stopped his truck, police said.

Barkley stepped out of his truck and fired a "sound shot" from a rifle at officers before fleeing into his home, police said in court documents. He later told investigators he fired the shot to stop the officers who were pursuing him from getting out of their vehicles, police said.

Police evacuated Barkley's neighborhood and set up a perimeter around his home. After hours of negotiations, Barkley walked out of his home and surrendered, police said.

In an interview with investigators, Barkley admitted shooting Schumacher in the torso with a rifle, police said in court documents. He told investigators he then intentionally ran over Schumacher's body and spun his tires before fleeing from Wal-Mart, police said.

Barkley has been charged with second-degree murder. He is being held in the Tompkins County Jail.