Ohio suspect's sister asks him to call home

CNN ^ | March 16, 2004 | CNN

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- The sister of the man suspected in two dozen Ohio shootings pleaded Tuesday for him to call home, telling her brother that "everything is going to be OK."

Charles McCoy Jr., 28, is accused of carrying out 24 shootings since May 2003, most of them driving along Columbus's outerbelt highway. One of the shootings was fatal.

"Charlie, we all love you very, very much, and we are very concerned about your well-being right now. Everything is going to be OK," said Amy Walton outside the family home.

"Mom and I need you to call us. We will arrange for you to come home. We love you, we miss you, you need to call us."

McCoy's mother, 48-year-old Ardith McCoy, filed a missing person report Monday saying she had not seen her son since 4 p.m. Friday.

According to the report, McCoy said her son was upset "over a possible move" and withdrew $600 from his bank account, saying he was going to a bar in the Easton neighborhood.

The report said he was wearing blue jeans, a flannel blue shirt, a white T-shirt and tennis shoes.

[AntiGuv]

IIRC, the suspect is reported to be a paranoid schizophrenic. If so, it's unfortunate that he was not properly medicated so that probably none of this would have happened.

[beckett]

Has there been any speculation about this guy's politics yet? Or about whether he is a known nutjob?

[Ohioan from Florida]

It sounds like from what I've gathered that he's been in treatment for awhile, but that he is currently not on his meds. They sort of make it sound like he has only been off them recently, like only since he's been missing. I could be misinterpreting what they're saying, but that's the way I'm understanding it right now.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Politics haven't been addressed at all to my knowledge. It also sounds like maybe only his family has known about his mental condition, not the population at large.

[xzins]

I heard tonight on TV that he is on SSI....that means some kind of disability has been identified and validated. The spokesperson said the disability was the paranoid schizophrenia.

The odds are, then, that he had been prescribed medication. But no one can force you to take it.

[beckett]

Thank you both for the info.

[cherry]

"Has there been any speculation about this guy's politics yet? Or about whether he is a known nutjob?"

you mean, was he a democrat?

[beckett]

:-)

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Yes and no. It's possible that there was manic-depressive going on as well.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

But no one can force you to take it.

Not unless he lived in a 24-hr. medication monitoring place, as did my own brother.

[xzins]

In my early years in the chaplaincy, I served on a locked, psych ward at a Vet's Hospital.

There really are people out there who think they are space aliens.

For those of us who don't get to see that kind of thing, it's hard to believe that it actually happens.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Unfortunately, this man had access to guns. If I were a part of his family, I would have seen to it that no access was possible.

[New Horizon]

Everything is going to be OK," said Amy Walton outside the family home.

Probably not, Amy.

[xzins]

Excellent point!