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Beloved Accomack Co. bus driver murdered, suspect behind bars

Posted at 11:21 PM, Nov 10, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-11 06:37:53-05

Accomack County, Va. - Throughout his 42 years driving students to and from school in Accomack County, Leon Harmon left an impression on hundreds of students.

“We are just torn apart,” says 24-year-old Brittany Hines, who knew Harmon when he was her bus driver in elementary school. “This is just one of the nicest men you could ever meet. I don`t know why anyone would do such a thing. It`s just horrible.”

Early Saturday morning, 61-year-old Harmon was found murdered.

Crime scene tape and evidence markers still surround his pick-up truck, parked behind his trailer on Cold Kall Lane in Horntown.

His son, Leon Wise, says his father was shot to death.

“What I`ve seen and what I`ve looked at he put up a struggle,” Wise says. “He put up one.”

The next day investigators arrested 46-year-old Michael Press, who is now behind bars charged with first-degree murder.

Wise grew up with Press and says his father also knew him.

“After a while, as we got older, I kind of realized how Michael was and how he acted, but I never thought he would do this,” Wise says.

He still doesn`t know why or what happened that morning, but Wise says there's no doubt his father lived every day doing what he loved.

“He always called them his little angels,” he says. “Every Monday morning he`d say, 'I`m going to go talk to my angels.'”

“I used to bring him a Dr. Pepper on Fridays in the morning and I just keep picturing his smile,” Hines says. “Any time I think of him, I think about his smile and how caring he was.'

Deputies are still investigating; if you have any information, you can take action and call the Accomack County Sheriff's Office.