Slay Suspect Eyed In Judge Shooting

A manhunt was on early Tuesday for a pawn shop owner suspected in a killing at his estranged wife's building and wanted for questioning in the shooting of a judge involved with his divorce case.

Police shut down a six-block area around a courthouse on the edge of Reno's downtown casino district after Judge Chuck Weller was shot in the chest by an apparent sniper through the window of his third floor office Monday.

Officers were searching for Darren Roy Mack, a suspect in the killing reported at the apartment building and a "person of interest" in the shooting at the courthouse, Reno Deputy Police Chief Jim Johns said. The two incidents apparently happened within hours of each other, police said.

Weller, a 53-year-old family court judge, was rushed to a hospital where he was reported in serious but stable condition as SWAT teams searched parking garages, high-rise construction sites and a neighboring movie theater.

Flights were suspended for about an hour at Reno-Tahoe International Airport late Monday night and some planes were searched after a police SWAT team responded to a reported sighting of Mack's sport utility vehicle at an airport parking garage, but it turned out to be a false alarm, authorities said.

"The lead was strong enough that police responded with a large group of officers," airport spokesman Brian Kulpin told The Associated Press. "The entire airport was searched and will continue to be searched. We're in a hyper state of vigilance."

Authorities were withholding the name of the person killed at the apartment. But the apartment was home to Mack's estranged wife, Charla Mack, 39, according to a background check by the Internet search engine Intelius. A call to her apartment was not returned Monday night.

Darren Mack "had recent dealings with the judge and the family court section" in his divorce, Johns said, calling it "an obvious connection." But he said police "do not have enough information to say he is a suspect" in Weller's shooting.

According to court records, Charla Mack filed for divorce Feb. 7, 2005. A two-day custody hearing was scheduled before Weller for Sept. 7 of this year and a mutual restraining order was signed in May 2005, according to the records.

Weller was shot in the chest "at least once" by a "high velocity projectile, possibly a rifle," Johns said.

Weller's administrative assistant, Annie Allison, was hit by bullet fragments in her arm and hip, but her wounds were superficial, and she was treated and released, said police spokesman Steve Frady.