US begins manhunt for sniper suspect

By Anita Chang, Columbus, Ohio POLICE were yesterday hunting for a 28-year-old man they believe was the gunman in two dozen highway shootings that have terrorised motorists for months.

Charles A McCoy Jr was believed to be armed and dangerous, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said. He lived within miles of where the gunman’s bullets killed a passenger, shattered windshields, dented school buses and drilled into homes and a school.

“The key issue for us right now is to locate this guy,” Chief Deputy Steve Martin said. “We believe he bought another gun.”

Martin would not say what evidence led investigators to McCoy, but newspaper and television reports yesterday said McCoy’s family gave authorities at least one of his guns.

The Columbus Dispatch, citing unidentified sources, said McCoy’s father, Charles A McCoy Sr, gave police a 9mm Beretta handgun that was ballistically matched to some of the bullet fragments recovered in the shootings. There was no phone listing for the elder McCoy.

Mr Martin’s office, which is in charge of the investigation, would not release any details about the case yesterday. Since May, two dozen sniper shootings have targeted vehicles and buildings around Interstate 270, which circles Columbus, and other highways.

Most shootings have occurred since October; the latest on February 14.

Investigators filed an arrest warrant on Monday night for McCoy on a charge of felonious assault in a December 15 shooting that damaged a house.

In the three most recent shootings, witnesses described seeing someone aiming at them while standing next to a car. Their descriptions of the suspect and car were similar to information which the sheriff’s office released on Monday.

The suspect is 5ft 8in, 185lbs pounds with brown hair and green eyes, the sheriff’s office said. The car is a dark green 1999 Geo Metro with a black bonnet.

However, a woman who lives next to the house where McCoy lived with his mother on a Columbus street said yesterday she saw him leave on Monday morning after putting a couple of boxes in the boot a different car.

Janet Taylor said it was a silver-gray, late 1980s General Motors car. Ms Taylor, 37, said she always had a strange feeling about McCoy, saying he yelled at her children and watched her washing dishes.