A 28-mile section of the Appalachian Trail reopened two days after two men were shot and wounded a few miles from the site of a 1981 double murder.

Police said Randall Lee Smith, who was convicted in the '81 slayings and was released from prison in 1996, crashed a pickup truck belonging to one of Tuesday's shooting victims while he was being followed by a state trooper. Investigators said Smith was in stable condition at a Roanoke hospital.

Lt. Ron Hamlin of the Giles County Sheriff's Office said Smith will be charged with two counts of attempted capital murder, grand larceny and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Investigators were still looking for evidence in this week's shootings yesterday, but they removed the yellow crime scene tape and allowed people to start hiking through again.