Joseph David Kolodski, a 36-year-old Caucasian male, was tragically killed on June 21, 1998, in Cherokee, North Carolina. Kolodski, a park ranger with the United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service, was responding to a report of a man with a rifle threatening visitors at the Big Witch Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. As Kolodski stepped out of his patrol car, he was ambushed and shot by the suspect. Despite being flown to a hospital in Tennessee, Kolodski was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The suspect in the shooting was arrested approximately four hours later by a tribal game warden on the neighboring Cherokee Indian Reservation. The suspect, Jeremiah Locust Sr., was convicted in federal court of the murder and sentenced to mandatory life without parole. Locust, now age 71, is currently serving his sentence in a federal prison in South Carolina.
Kolodski had served with the National Park Service for 13 years and was an officer safety and defensive tactics instructor for the agency. He is survived by his wife and three children. The suspect was also held financially responsible for the loss of future income to Kolodski's family.
