WHEELING, W. Va. — Police in two states are investigating the death of Zackory Sadler, 36, who was wanted for two shootings in Washington County last month, after he was found dead at a relative’s home in Wheeling, West Virginia.
How he died is unclear, according to police, and the relative who lives there is not cooperating with investigators.
Police in Wheeling were called to the house on Wheeling Island at 6:30 a.m. Thursday for a medical emergency. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators used a fingerprint scan to identify him as Sadler, which is when they learned he was wanted out of Washington County on murder charges.
A medical examiner in Charleston will determine a manner and cause of death, but there were no apparent external injuries to his body, according to police.
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Police told Channel 11 they anticipate making more arrests of the people who harbored him.
One of the shootings in January was outside a Family Dollar store on Highland Avenue.
The coroner said Darnell Brown, 41, was found shot and killed in the parking lot outside the store.
Brown’s girlfriend and her six children, all under the age of 9, were in an SUV at the time of the shooting.
Brown was shot as he walked out of the dollar store. Police said Sadler was waiting for him and fired at least two rounds, one of which hit Brown in the head, from a car.
A second shooting happened in Donora on Heslep Avenue, nearly 30 miles away. It happened at the house of an ex-girlfriend of Sadler. A man was shot in the leg and foot. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital.
At the time, police said Sadler had a history of firearms violations and was well-known to law enforcement. He was facing charges of criminal homicide, reckless endangerment and firearms violations.
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