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Pizza pal tipped police to Ohio suspect

McCoy arrested in Las Vegas


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Charles McCoy Jr.
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Authorities arrest the suspect in the Ohio highway shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- The suspect in the Ohio highway shootings was arrested Wednesday after a man recognized him in a Las Vegas sports bar.

Charles McCoy Jr., the suspect in the two dozen Ohio shootings which includes one fatality, was captured without incident.

A Las Vegas Metro Police source said Franklin County, Ohio, law enforcement officials and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents arrived in Las Vegas Wednesday. The source said McCoy is cooperating and it doesn't appear that he'll fight extradition in a hearing expected Friday or Monday.

Conrad Malsom said he instantly recognized McCoy as he and a friend ate pizza at the Stardust, a betting parlor. McCoy, he said, was reading USA Today, unusual fare for someone in a sports bar.

"After almost an hour watching him, I asked him if he enjoyed pizza. He said yes. I asked him what his name was. He said his name was Mike, and that was different than what the newspaper said," Malsom said.

Malsom said he called the FBI in Cincinnati but they were skeptical. So he went back to the bar, retrieved what he could of what McCoy left behind and turned the items, including a matchbook and a drinking glass, over to the FBI. He also downloaded photos and other information like McCoy's license number, from the Internet.

Malsom, thinking it odd that McCoy left the bar through a seldom-used door, drove through the area behind it, where he spotted McCoy's car -- with Ohio plates -- outside the Budget Suites, the motel where he had been staying for one or two days.

Malsom said he called authorities and told them, "I just shared pizza with your suspect."

He said he was glad McCoy was captured. "This man had killed a woman ... and could have killed many more people. We don't know he was done with the shooting."

On Tuesday, McCoy's sister, Amy Walton, pleaded with him to call home, telling her brother that "everything is going to be OK." His family Wednesday said they are relieved he's safe and the ordeal is over.

The sister, in a statement to WBNS-TV in Columbus, said, "We want to thank police for being very cooperative and keeping us informed, as well as being sympathetic to our needs.

"The family was deeply saddened when we heard of the death of Gail Knisley. We are part of this community. We are saddened like everyone else. We are proud to see this come to a peaceful end."

Knisley, 62, died November 25, the only person to die in the shootings.

McCoy was being held in federal custody, charged as a fugitive, pending extradition, Metro Police Lt. Ted Lee told reporters. McCoy was to be moved later Wednesday to the Clark County Detention Center.

Lee said McCoy had no weapons when arrested and didn't say anything.

Speaking about the tip that led to McCoy's capture, Lee said, "the one tip was a good one," and added, "it was excellent help by the public."

McCoy is charged in Ohio with felonious assault in a December 15 shooting into a home two miles from Interstate 270 -- the highway on which most of the attacks occurred.

The warrant for his arrest says he "did cause or attempt to cause physical harm to another by means of a deadly weapon." Authorities said ballistic evidence links that shooting to some of the other shootings that have terrorized the region.

McCoy was pulled over for speeding after the attacks began, court records show.

He was ticketed for speeding May 26 -- more than two weeks after the shootings began. He was ticketed again November 4 -- a few weeks before the one fatal shooting.

In both cases, McCoy paid his ticket -- and avoided being identified as the shooting suspect.

CNN's Sean Callebs and Eric Fiegel contributed to this report.


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