--POLICE ARE CONTINUING TO SEARCH FOR A POSSIBLE SNIPER AFTER A JUDGE WAS APPARENTLY SHOT IN THE COURTHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN RENO. SPEAKING UNDER LOCKDOWN CONDITIONS, JUDGE JERRY POLAHA IDENTIFIED THE VICTIM AS FAMILY COURT JUDGE CHUCK WELLER. POLAHA SAID WELLER HAD BEEN SHOT IN THE CHEST WHILE ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE COURTHOUSE. THE SHOT IS BELIEVED TO HAVE COME FROM OUTSIDE THE BUILDING. POLAHA MENTIONED THAT IT'S NOT KNOWN IF THE SHOT WAS MEANT FOR WELLER, OR IF IT MIGHT SIMPLY BE A RANDOM GUNSHOT.   As reported on Radio KOH 780 Reno
 
 

 http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/14266973p-15078817c.html

Judge shot at courthouse in Reno

Published 12:48 pm PDT Monday, June 12, 2006

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A judge was shot Monday at the Washoe County courthouse complex in Reno. There was no immediate word on the identity or condition of the judge.

A SWAT team was on the scene. Police closed off several blocks around the courthouse just south of the Truckee River on the south end of Reno's downtown casino district.

The judge was shot sometime after 11 a.m. and was believed to be alive, Reno police spokesman Steve Frady told The Associated Press.

The judge was shot on the third floor of the new Mills Lane Building that houses the Family Court section of the complex and the building was evacuated, Frady said.

Police do not know if the shots were fired inside the courthouse or if they came from outside. Police scanner traffic indicates officers also were searching parking garages in the area.

Sniper Sought in Reno Courthouse Shooting
From Associated Press

1:50 PM PDT, June 12, 2006

RENO, Nev. — A family court judge was shot as he stood near a third-floor courthouse window today, and police sealed off the area and searched nearby parking garages for a sniper.

Judge Chuck Weller was hit in the chest about 11:15 a.m. by a shot or shots through his office window at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center, part of the Washoe County courthouse complex, police said.

He was rushed by ambulance to Washoe Medical Center, where he was reported in serious condition, but alert, county undersheriff Mike Haley said.

"He is conscious and talking with his family," Reno police spokesman Frady told The Associated Press.

Police closed off six blocks around the courthouse, on the edge of Reno's downtown casino district. A SWAT team was on the scene, and officers conducted a floor-by-floor search of the courthouse and the neighboring parking garages.

"We're looking for somebody who apparently shot through Judge Weller's window into his office," Haley said

"We don't know if we have one person or multiple people," he told KRNV-TV in Reno.

"We don't know precisely where that round may have come from, so we have to close down and search a large area just north of the court complex."

Weller, 53, a Reno lawyer, was elected to the bench in 2004, defeating former Reno Mayor Pete Sferrazza.

Weller hosted a legal advice program on a Reno radio station from 1989 to 2002 and wrote a legal advice column in the Sunday Reno Gazette-Journal from 2000 to 2004. He once led opposition to a county bond issue to build a new county courthouse.

Police originally indicated that the building had been evacuated but later said that city and county employees had been secured in the building because they did not know if it was safe on the streets.

The new courthouse addition housing the family court and the district attorney's offices opened earlier this year. It is named after Mills Lane, the former Washoe County district attorney, judge and boxing official who became famous for his television show.

Search on After Gunman Wounds Nev. Judge

Tuesday June 13, 2006 5:46 AM
 

AP Photo NVRP104

By SCOTT SONNER

Associated Press Writer

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A family court judge was shot and wounded as he stood near a third-floor courthouse window Monday, and police were looking for man suspected in a slaying across town who had appeared before the judge in a divorce case.

Chuck Weller, 53, was hit in the chest around midday by at least one shot that came through his office window at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center, authorities said. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was reported in serious condition.

``He is conscious and talking with his family,'' police spokesman Steve Frady said.

Investigators said Darren Roy Mack, a suspect in a slaying reported later in the day at a Reno apartment building, was a ``person of interest'' in the shooting at the courthouse, Reno Deputy Police Chief Jim Johns said.

The apartment building was home to Mack's estranged wife, Charla Mack, 39, according to a background check by the Internet search engine Intelius. A call to Charla Mack's apartment was not immediately returned Monday night.

Reno police spokesman Steve Frady said Monday night the name of the victim was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

According to Washoe County District Court records, Charla Mack filed for divorce on 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 court records.

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.

Police also reported that a bomb-sniffing dog had alerted officers to the judge's car in the court's parking garage. A bomb squad was investigating.

After the shooting, police closed off six blocks around the courthouse on the edge of Reno's downtown casino district, which otherwise remained open. A SWAT team was called in, and officers conducted a floor-by-floor search of the courthouse and the neighboring parking garages.

Local television footage showed SWAT team members in full riot gear searching a movie theater a block from the courthouse as surprised movie-goers looked on. SWAT snipers set up on a restaurant patio across the street.

Family court proceedings scheduled Tuesday were canceled.

The attack on Weller ``is shocking, but the risk is not shocking. We're well aware this is the inherent risk of trying to solve conflicts. Sometimes you don't solve them peacefully and people take the law into their own hands,'' said Darin Conforti, court administrator of Reno Justice Court.

A woman believed to be Weller's secretary was hit by glass or bullet fragments in her arm and hip, but her wounds were superficial, Frady said.

Mack worked at a Reno jewelry store and pawn shop within a few blocks of the courthouse. On a Web site advertising the sale of diamonds and other jewelry, he described himself as ``the third generation owner of a small business.''

A woman who answered the telephone Monday at the jewelry store said Mack was not there. A telephone number listed for Darren and Charla Mack was out of service.

The victim in the apartment building slaying had not been identified.

Weller, a Reno lawyer, was elected to the bench in 2004. He hosted a legal advice program on a Reno radio station from 1989 to 2002 and wrote a legal advice column in the Sunday Reno Gazette-Journal from 2000 to 2004. He once led opposition to a county bond issue to build a new courthouse.

After the shooting, city and county employees were kept inside the building because police did not know if it was safe on the streets.

``It's speculation, but I would say it was the work of a disgruntled person,'' said Reno Justice of the Peace Harold Albright, a friend of Weller's. ``Family court judges take people's children away and take property away. Those are such basic decisions that are very emotional.''
 

Associated Press writers Martin Griffith and Tom Gardner contributed to this report.