BOONE
A suspect in the shooting death of a Boone pawnshop employee was captured 700 miles away on Christmas Day after an eight-hour standoff, authorities said.
John Richard Gray, 28, surrendered to authorities yesterday morning in Rochelle, Ill., a small town about 80 miles west of Chicago.
Gray was arrested in connection with the killing of Jimmy Roberts, 40, whose body was found inside the Gold and Closeout Connection pawnshop at 499 E. King St., according to Boone police. A relative had called authorities at 8:30 p.m. Monday, concerned that Roberts hadn't come home from work.
When Boone police and firefighters went to check on him, they entered the locked business and found Roberts dead of a gunshot wound.
Authorities had announced that Gray was a suspect, and they believed that he had left the area and was driving the victim's pickup truck.
Gray was spotted in Mendota, Ill., a town of about 7,300, on Christmas Eve after a caller phoned in a tip that someone was selling firearms near a McDonald's beside Interstate 39, Mendota police Sgt. John Myers said.
The man fled into open farm ground about 6:45 p.m., leaving behind a pickup truck, according to authorities. Myers said he wasn't sure if it was the victim's pickup truck, but it matched the description that Boone police had issued. The truck was bearing an Indiana license plate.
Gray eluded authorities, but was spotted again at 1 a.m. Christmas Day at a hotel in the town of Rochelle, which is about 30 miles north of Mendota on I-39.
The hotel was surrounded by a SWAT team and by officers from the Illinois State Police, Ogle County Sheriff's Office and the Rochelle Police Department. The hotel guests were evacuated, and negotiators began talking with Gray, said Master Sgt. Ken Sondgeroth of the Illinois State Police.
Gray surrendered at 9:03 a.m.
"It worked out good," Sondgeroth said. "Nobody got hurt, and it came to a successful conclusion. That's what we want."
Gray had been in the Boone area only about a week or two before Roberts' killing, Boone police said.
Gray has a long criminal history in Florida, where he had spent more than four years in prison. Records there show that he has been convicted of trafficking in stolen property, burglary, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and other charges.
He was released from the Florida Department of Correction in February and listed Lakeland, Fla., as his residence, records show.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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