Ohio Sniper Suspect Seized in Las Vegas

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tipped off by a gambler who suddenly realized he was sharing his pizza with a fugitive, authorities in Las Vegas early Wednesday morning arrested a man suspected in two dozen sniper shootings that have frightened residents of central Ohio for months.

Relief swept over many here when they learned that Charles A. McCoy Jr., 28, was taken into custody two days after Ohio authorities named him as the lone suspect in the sniper attacks.

The string of shootings -- one last May and the rest in fall and winter -- killed a 62-year-old woman. No one else was injured. But other bullets ripped into homes, dented school buses and smashed through windows of cars along local highways.

Terrified by the randomness of the incidents, some residents dialed 911 on their cellphones and kept a finger poised over the “talk” button as they drove local roads. Others ordered their children to duck on the floor as they drove.

The arrest quieted some of those fears. But many said they couldn’t completely relax -- not yet.

“I just hope there’s no one else out there, or no one else who will try to be a copycat,” said Starr Wilson, who for months hated to let her 11-year-old play outside for fear of flying bullets.

“Until we see all the answers come to the surface, we’ll continue to be a little uneasy,” agreed Rod Davisson, the mayor of the small village of Obetz, south of Columbus.

Franklin County officials credited the public with tracking McCoy to Las Vegas after they had identified him as their suspect. They received several calls and a faxed letter from tipsters in Nevada on Tuesday and before dawn Wednesday.

One especially useful tip came from Conrad Malsom, a gambler at the Stardust Casino who said he struck up a conversation with a young man seated at a nearby table by offering him a slice of pizza. Within moments, Malsom told police, he recognized McCoy from a wanted photo he had seen.

He continued chatting, and learned McCoy was staying at the nearby Budget Suites hotel. Then he called Las Vegas police.

“All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place,” Officer Jose Montoya said.

Joined by the FBI, police moved in to arrest McCoy at 2:45 a.m. as he pulled into the hotel parking lot in his dusty green Geo Metro. Montoya said McCoy, who had been in Las Vegas for less than two days, checked into the hotel under his own name.

McCoy has been charged with felonious assault in one incident so far: the Dec. 15 shooting of two handgun rounds into an occupied house on Brown Road. Investigators determined this week that the gun used in that shooting “was in the possession” of McCoy, according to a felony arraignment form issued by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities said bullets recovered from the house on Brown Road match ballistics tests from eight other sniper attacks, including the fatal shooting of Gail Knisley, who was killed Nov. 25 when a bullet pierced the door of a car she was riding in.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he expects to file additional charges by week’s end. First, though, he needs to assess McCoy’s intent in allegedly firing repeatedly into traffic and along residential streets. “Until we know what was going on inside his head, I can’t say” whether he might be charged with murder, manslaughter or additional felonious assaults, O’Brien said.

Investigators would not say how they settled on McCoy as a suspect, noting only that his was one of 1,114 names called in by tipsters and investigated by a multi-agency task force over the last several months. But there were indications that McCoy’s family played a key role.

His mother, Ardith, filed a missing person report last week that said her son had disappeared after taking $600 from his bank account. His father, Charles McCoy Sr., confiscated four of his son’s guns after a shooting last month and recently turned them over to authorities, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The family could not be reached for comment.

Ohio authorities had earlier warned that McCoy had a history of mental illness and might harbor homicidal or suicidal impulses. When captured, however, McCoy was unarmed and put up no resistance. He did not say anything other than to confirm his identity, Montoya said.

Officials would not comment on whether Malsom would claim the $60,000 reward for information leading to the sniper’s arrest. Nor would they speculate about when McCoy might be returned to Ohio. Authorities were questioning him at the FBI office in Las Vegas on Wednesday. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Back in Ohio, the sniper’s victims were concerned only that McCoy remain in custody.

“He had to be taken off the street,” said Edward Cable, whose minivan was hit on Nov. 21, shattering a window.

“I’m just glad they caught the moron,” agreed William Briggs, a long-distance truck driver who found glass shards in his hair after a bullet ripped through his window, barely missing his head, on Oct. 19.

In the middle-class neighborhood where McCoy lived with his mother, news of his arrest startled -- but did not surprise -- some residents.

Paul and Janet Taylor, who live next door, said they had taken note of McCoy’s odd habits since he moved in about a year ago: He would sometimes stand on his deck and stare for hours into a neighbor’s window. Or he would plant himself in the middle of his lawn, a baseball cap pulled low on his forehead, muttering to himself. Once, Janet Taylor said, he yelled at her 12-year-old twins for making too much noise while they played on the lawn.

“I had an uneasy feeling about him. He made me really nervous,” she said, as neighborhood kids raced down the street, taking advantage of a St. Patrick’s Day storm to hurl some late-season snowballs.

McCoy’s high-school buddy Dan Klemack painted a very different picture. McCoy, he said, was always “a nice guy,” soft-spoken and a bit shy, but loyal to his friends and football teammates. “Just a normal kid,” he said.

No one answered at McCoy’s house as the snow fell Wednesday afternoon. The door frame was crammed with dozens of reporters’ business cards and cars cruised up and down the winding street, the drivers staring out the window to gawk. Three eggs had been smashed against the garage.

“I just hope this will get wrapped up soon so we can all breathe easier,” said Bill Wittman, superintendent of the local school district. “If [McCoy] really is the person responsible for all the shootings, I’ll certainly be relieved.”

Huffstutter reported from Columbus and Simon from St. Louis. Times researcher John Beckham in Chicago contributed to this report.