Glenwood native sentenced to death

Published 8:27 am Thursday, May 14, 2015

A Glenwood man has been sentenced to death for his part in the murder of a Florida man.

Zachary Taylor Wood, 24, was one of two men charged with the April 19, 2014 shooting death of retired game warden James William Shores of Washington County, Fla. A Florida court convicted Wood in February.

Wood and Dillon Scott Rafsky, of Enterprise, were arrested after failing to pull over for a routine traffic stop. State Trooper Marcel Phillips pursued the pair into Geneva County until Wood stopped suddenly and Rafsky opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun. Rafsky wounded Phillips in the shoulder, neck and face. Phillips returned fire, wounding Rafsky and Wood. Both were charged with attempted murder for the firefight.

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Alabama Bureau of Investigation officers later discovered the vehicle Wood and Rafsky were in was registered to 66-year-old Shores. Washington County sheriff’s deputies discovered Shores dead behind his farmhouse.

Investigators said Wood and Rafsky bound and killed Shores after they got the Jeep they were driving stuck in mud on Shores’ property. The pair beat Shores with a garden hoe, bound his arms and legs and tried to light him on fire. When the gas additive they poured on Shores would not light, they shot Shores in the head.

At the unanimous recommendation of the jury, the judge sentenced Wood to death for Shores murder. Wood was also sentenced to serve 100 years for the robbery and burglary charges.