A southern Minnesotan suspected of fatally shooting a man behind a Las Vegas area truck stop was arrested back in his home state, authorities said Thursday.
Mark Doocy, 60, of Blooming Prairie, remained in his SUV and kept Rice County deputies and other law enforcers waiting for more than 4 hours late Wednesday until a chemical irritant was used on him twice before his apprehension in connection with the killing last Friday, said Sheriff Troy Dunn.
Doocy was taken to a Twin Cities hospital for treatment while remaining in custody in lieu of $1 million bail as authorities in Nevada seek his return. He is charged with killing a man in his 40s in the road near a Love's Travel Stop along Interstate 15 northeast of Las Vegas, Dunn said.
Police at the scene told reporters that Doocy was employed by the victim and his wife to do odd jobs. The couple lived in a trailer behind the truck stop, police added.
Las Vegas metropolitan police were alerted to the gunfire about 4:10 p.m. and arrived to find the victim dead, authorities said.
Investigators determined that the man and Doocy were arguing, the exchange "escalated, and the suspect retrieved a handgun and fired several rounds at the victim," a statement from police read.
Five days later and more than 1,600 miles to the northeast, a Rice County deputy spotted a suspicious vehicle about 7:30 p.m. at the Flying J Truck Stop at Interstate 35 and Hwy. 19 in Webster Township, Dunn said.
The deputy's check on the SUV's registration alerted him that its owner, Doocy, was the Las Vegas area murder suspect from the previous week.
