MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) — An Albany man was charged with murder after the fatal shooting of a man in rural Albany, the Delaware County prosecutor says.
Jerald “Gary” Copley, 59, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds Tuesday afternoon outside his home on East County Road 500 North, which is about 2 miles south of Albany.
Cy E. Alley, 29, also will face a firearms sentencing enhancement if found guilty, according to a news release issued Wednesday by Prosecutor Eric M. Hoffman.
Alley told deputies he’d been having trouble with his electricity at his home, and he believed Copley, who lived nearby, was “hacking into his network,” court documents say.
Delaware County sheriff’s deputies responded to the home shortly before 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. A spent, opaque-white 12-gauge shotgun shell was found at the homicide scene, court documents say.
Witnesses, one who was walking in the area, reported seeing Copley get shot, and watching Alley leave the home in a black Ford F250 at a high rate of speed.
Alley was arrested about 1:55 p.m. Tuesday at a nearby home. Court documents say that “an unspent opaque white 12 gauge shotgun shell similar to the spent one found at the crime scene was found in his pocket.”
Deputies wrote in court documents, “Cy said that he exited his truck with a Winchester 12 gauge pump shotgun and shot Gary 4 times with the intent to kill him.”
The gun was found in the back of the pickup.
Deputies also wrote in the court documents, “”Cy said that he has been having trouble with his electricity at his house, and he assumed that the victim was hacking into his network. Cy said that he went over to Gary Copley’s residence to confront him. Gary and Cy were outside in Gary’s driveway. Cy said that he exited his truck with a Winchester 12 gauge pump shotgun and shot Gary 4 times with the intent to kill him. Cy said that the gun he used to kill Gary Copley, was in the back of his black Ford F250, which was later located by Detectives.”
The deputies did not report in court documents any evidence that Copley had been hacking a network.
Online court records on Wednesday afternoon did not show an attorney or an initial hearing date for Alley. The prosecutor says the court ordered Alley be held in jail without bail, and he remained in the Delaware County Jail on Wednesday afternoon. News 8 reached out to the sheriff and the jail for Alley’s jail-booking photo.
