Marcos Chavez Gonzalez, 29, was charged with four counts of murder in the slayings late Sunday outside a television store in Mount Airy, about 100 miles north of Charlotte.

The four were shot with an assault rifle outside Wood's TV, in the shadow of a water tower that says "Welcome to Mount Airy" and has a picture of Griffith and Ron Howard, who played Opie, his son, on the show.

Mount Airy Police Chief Dale Watson said officers are investigating several leads, including whether it was a contract killing or repercussions from a love affair gone bad.

"This is Mayberry . . . Andy Griffith's house is in spitting distance here," said Michael Wood, one of the owners of Wood's TV.

The town, population 8,700, has built a tourist trade on nostalgia for the show that continues to thrive in syndication.

Watson identified the victims - all residents of the town - as Victor Alfonso Martinez-Jimenez, 22; Javier Manuel Martinez, 21; Juan Manuel Martinez, 26; and Marcos Oviedo Aguliar, 21.

Gonzalez was arrested without incident at a motel about 50 miles northeast of the town, Henry County, Va., Sheriff Lane Perry said. He was unarmed when he surrendered just before 4 a.m. to officers who had surrounded the motel.

He was extradited from Virginia and was being held in the Surry County jail.

Watson said 16 shots were fired but the assault rifle had not been found. "It was quite a crime scene," he said.

State prison records show Gonzalez was released more than two years ago after serving more than two years on a 2002 conviction for kidnapping a minor and a probation violation.

State records show the felony kidnapping charge required Gonzalez to register as a sex offender. North Carolina's post-release supervision of Gonzalez ended in June 2006 when he returned to prison after failing to stay in contact with a probation officer, a Correction Department spokesman said.