A man wanted for an attempted homicide in Pottsville during the early morning hours Monday was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon by Pottsville police.
Police Chief Richard F. Wojciechowsky said Courtland Irving Stackpole III, 39, of Mount Carbon, was charged with three counts of attempted homicide, three counts of aggravated assault and one count each of recklessly endangering another person and possessing instruments of crime.
He was arraigned by on-call Magisterial District Judge David A. Plachko, Port Carbon, and committed to Schuylkill County Prison, unable to post $250,000 straight cash bail.
Wojciechowsky said that about 4 p.m. Stackpole was taken into custody without incident by Pottsville police and an assisting state police trooper in the area of King and Queen streets, Pottsville.
The chief said authorities were alerted to Stackpole by a resident who had viewed his published picture and reported seeing him in the area of routes 209 and 901, initially on the Gordon Nagle Trail, and then in the area of West End Avenue.
At the time he was taken into custody, Wojciechowsky said, Stackpole was found to be in possession of an unloaded .22-caliber handgun and a large Bowie knife.
Earlier Tuesday, Wojciechowsky said officers located the 1990 Chevrolet pickup truck Stackpole was believed to be driving in the 900 block of First Street in Mechanicsville.
Wojciechowsky said the events unfolded when officers were called to the area of the 500 block of East Market Street about 2:40 a.m. Monday for a report of shots fired. A local hospital reported that a man came in for treatment of a gunshot wound.
The man, only identified as a 50-year-old Pottsville resident, was treated and released later Monday morning, the chief said.
The initial investigation at both the scene and the hospital showed that the man had been inside his vehicle parked in the 500 block of East Market Street when two men approached from behind his Chevrolet Suburban and one, later identified as Stackpole, had fired a round from a shotgun into the window of the SUV.
As the victim exited the vehicle, the same assailant fired a second round at him, Wojciechowsky said.
The victim described his attackers as being white men and said they fled from the scene in a red truck, the chief said, adding that the continuing investigation led to identifying Stackpole as the alleged shooter.
Wojciechowsky added that a 23-year-old Cressona man and a 19-year-old Kaska woman were inside the Chevrolet Suburban with the victim at the time and were not injured.
Stackpole will now have to appear for a preliminary hearing at a later date before Magisterial District Judge James K. Reiley in his Pottsville courtroom.