Friends of Kentucky fugitive from police shootings arrested
By Tim Ghianni
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Two friends of a Kentucky fugitive accused of shooting at law enforcement officers in two states have been arrested after a confrontation with U.S. marshals in Tennessee, authorities said on Thursday.
The fugitive, Floyd Ray Cook, was not believed to be in the rural stretch of Tennessee about 30 miles (48 km) north of Nashville where the pair was arrested on Wednesday night, authorities said. Cook remains at large.
A confrontation with the suspects, a man and woman, began after U.S. marshals saw a vehicle believed associated with Cook at a gas station near White House, Tennessee, Deputy U.S. Marshal Danny Shelton said in a statement.
As the marshals approached, the driver struck two law enforcement vehicles and nearly hit a marshal while driving away, Shelton said. A marshal fired a shot in self defense that did not strike anyone, he said.
The vehicle crashed in a ravine about 3 miles (5 km) away and its two occupants ran away, Shelton said.
Federal, state and county law enforcement officers set up a perimeter to search for the suspects identified later as Troy Wayne, 50, and Katy McCarty, 35, who were found in part using infrared technology and captured, authorities said.
Wayne and McCarty were being held on probation violation charges, Shelton said.
Authorities have widened their search for Cook, who is accused of shooting a Tennessee police officer wearing a bullet-resistant vest during a traffic stop on Saturday and later that day exchanging gunfire with a Kentucky state trooper.
The Tennessee police officer was saved by the vest, sustaining only minor injuries, according to the Putnam County, Tennessee, sheriff's office.
Cook is a registered sex offender in Kentucky listed as non-compliant with an unverified home address and has a string of convictions dating back decades, according to authorities.
He is also wanted in Kentucky on a charge related to methamphetamine trafficking, Tennessee authorities have said.
(Reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville; Editing by David Bailey and Lisa Lambert)
