Sniper suspect identified

last updated 8 January 2015

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio police issued an arrest warrant this week for a suspect in a string of 24 sniper shootings that have unnerved drivers along highways outside Columbus since May. Investigators described the suspect, Charles A. McCoy Jr., 28, as unstable, armed, and dangerous. The shootings have struck cars, trucks, school buses, and buildings on or near major highways. The only person hit, Gail Knisley, 62, was killed on I-270 in November. McCoy’s father gave police two of his son’s guns. Ballistics tests linked one, a 9 mm Beretta, to nine of the shootings. Police said the sniper had grown more bold recently, parking his Geo Metro on overpasses and shooting as witnesses watched. “His intent is to hurt somebody,” said a local sheriff’s deputy.