Ohio highway shooting suspect faces extradition
Sister thanks Vegas tipster
| Las Vegas authorities released this mug shot of McCoy after his arrest Wednesday. |
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CNN's Ted Rowlands reports on the tip that led to the arrest of Ohio shooting suspect 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 sister of the suspect in the Ohio highway shootings said Thursday that her family is enduring a "living nightmare" but she's happy her brother was caught safely.
During an afternoon press conference, Amy Walton also thanked Conrad Malsom who recognized her brother, Charles McCoy Jr., and called the FBI.
"I wanted to thank Mr. Malsom out in Las Vegas," she said. "You are a friend to me for the rest of my life. You, along with God, answered my prayers because I was imagining the worst."
McCoy was arrested without incident Wednesday after Malsom recognized him in a Las Vegas sports bar.
McCoy is suspected in two dozen Ohio shootings, including the slaying of 62-year-old Gail Knisley.
Andrew Haney, McCoy's attorney, said his client will waive extradition Friday morning and be transported to Ohio, where he's expected to arrive by Friday evening.
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.
"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."
Metro Police Lt. Ted Lee said McCoy had no weapons when arrested and didn't say anything.
On Tuesday, Walton pleaded for her brother to call home, assuring him: "Everything is going to be OK." His family said Wednesday they are relieved he's safe and the ordeal is over.
In a statement to WBNS-TV in Columbus, his sister 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 died November 25, the only person to die in the shootings.
Speaking about the tip that led to McCoy's capture, Lee said: "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.