Reno Deputy Police Chief Jim Johns on Tuesday discusses two attacks a day earlier that left a woman dead and a judge wounded. Police are looking for Darren Roy Mack in both attacks. Photo by The Associated Press Darren Mack Suspect might be driving a silver Ford Explorer with California license plates 5POR272 Washoe County Family Court Judge Chuck Weller issued a statement thanking well-wishers, police and emergency medical personnel. Photo by The Associated Press

RENO -- A nationwide manhunt Tuesday failed to turn up a Reno pawnshop owner wanted in the slaying of his estranged wife and the shooting of Family Court Judge Chuck Weller a day earlier.

Pawnshop owner Darren Mack, 45, is considered dangerous and has regularly practiced shooting many different types of weapons, Jim Johns, deputy chief of the Police Department, said during a news conference.

Mack is the cousin of former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael Mack, who previously ran a pawnshop, according to sources in business and politics. Calls to Michael Mack's cell phone went straight to voice mail, where a message said he would be out of the country until June 23.

The judge had been presiding over the acrimonious divorce proceedings of Mack and his 39-year-old wife, Charla. The couple had been arguing over alimony payments and assets, court filings show.

Weller, 53, was in good condition and good spirits as he recovered from at least one rifle shot wound to the chest, Johns said.

The judge released a statement late Tuesday in which he praised the medical staff at Washoe Medical Center for saving his life.

"I want to offer a personal note of thanks to the many people of Reno, Sparks, and the rest of Washoe County and around the country who have expressed their support and offered their prayers," he said in the statement. "With your support, and the help of God, my family and I will get through this difficult time."

Weller also expressed his sympathies to the family of Charla Mack, calling her killing a "tragic and senseless crime."

Annie Allison, Weller's administrative assistant who suffered superficial wounds in the shooting, also expressed her gratitude to police and doctors and expressed her sadness over the slaying of Charla Mack.

Las Vegas political consultant Jim Denton, who ran Weller's 2004 campaign, said he spoke by phone with the judge. He said the family is moving Weller from the hospital to a secure, undisclosed location where he can continue to receive care.

Johns said Mack is considered the prime suspect in the shooting of Weller. Mack was driving a silver Ford Explorer with California license plates 5POR272, but he might have changed cars, Johns said.

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick said a warrant charging Mack with murder in the death of his wife has been secured and that his office might seek the death penalty when he is apprehended.

The couple has an 7-year-old daughter, Erica, who Johns said is in a "safe" location. Darren Mack also has two children by a previous marriage.

The warrant said David Jacob Osborne, a longtime friend of Darren Mack, called police Monday to express concern that his friend had harmed Charla Mack.

Osborne said he had gone with his dog about 9 a.m. Monday to meet Darren Mack at Mack's luxury townhouse at 9900 Wilbur May Parkway in south Reno to give a ride to Erica. While he was waiting, Osborne said, Erica arrived with a woman he assumed was her mother.

Osborne said Darren Mack asked him to wait with Erica while he spoke to her mother.

Osborne said that after several minutes, he heard his dog barking and then saw Darren Mack with a towel wrapped around his hand.

Osborne said his dog came out of the home covered in blood, and, fearing for his safety, he left with the girl.

Detectives later found Charla Mack lying facedown in a pool of blood in the garage. She had been stabbed in the neck and upper torso, according to the warrant.

Weller was shot at 11:06 a.m. Monday as he stood by the window in his third-floor courthouse office adjacent to the Truckee River.

Police believe a sniper fired shots into the courthouse's clear glass window from a vantage point on a parking structure more a block and a half away.

Johns said it is possible that Mack, who is known to travel frequently to Mexico and Costa Rica, had fled the Reno area.

He added that law enforcement agencies around the country have been alerted and acknowledged local police early Tuesday checked the parking lot and travel records at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Documents show Mack received a certificate as a student pilot sometime prior to 2003, but he never secured a full pilot's license.

Washoe County District Court records show that Mack and his wife were in a bitter divorce and property settlement battle that involved numerous appearances before Weller. Their case was scheduled to continue Sept. 8.

Shawn Meador, Charla Mack's lawyer, said in a court filing that Darren Mack ignored Weller's order in May 2005 to pay $10,000 a month in temporary alimony payments to his wife.

Darren Mack was found in contempt by Weller, but then filed for bankruptcy to avoid making the payments, according to the filing.

Weller ordered Mack last fall to make an immediate $2,000 payment to his wife so that she could turn back on the utilities in the Washoe Valley home where she lived with their daughter, a lawsuit said.

Meador in a court document said Mack continued to live a "lavish" lifestyle despite the bankruptcy. He said Mack took frequent vacations with girlfriends and often attended "swinger" parties in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

The document also states that Mack was upset because his wife refused to accept his contention that they accumulated no community property during their marriage. Unless Charla Mack agreed, Darren Mack said he would "destroy" her, the document states.

Other documents show Darren Mack sued his wife last September demanding the return of a $195,000 diamond ring and a $13,000 Rolex watch. He contended she took the items from his Palace Jewelry and Loan Co. business in downtown Reno.

In response, Charla Mack contended they were gifts to her from her husband. She also stated Mack had sold her original wedding ring soon after their marriage in 1995.

Court records show Darren Mack lived at the 9009 Wilbur May Parkway, No. 1006, luxury townhouse in south Reno where Charla Mack's body was discovered Monday.

The couple separated in 2004, and Charla Mack continued to live in a mansion in the woods at 5350 Franktown Road, north of Carson City. She filed for divorce in February 2005.

That same month she filed for a temporary restraining order against Mack, charging him with domestic violence. She withdrew the request 10 days later.

Lance Maiss, Darren Mack's lawyer in the pawnshop jewelry dispute, said his client had a reputation as a good person and was well-respected in the community.

Although the pawnshop dispute was only tangentially related to the divorce, the proceeding appeared to have a major effect on Darren Mack, he said.

"If there is a story, it's there," Maiss said.

Mack and his wife had been granted joint custody of their daughter last year by Weller, according to court documents.

Each would take the girl for a week. They would meet to exchange the child on Mondays.

Although Mack filed for bankruptcy last year, Meador filed documents stating that the pawnshop owner earned more than $500,000 a year and had a net worth of $9.4 million. He said the bankruptcy filing was a sham designed to prevent Charla Mack from getting money.

Review-Journal writers Keith Rogers, Molly Ball, John Edwards and David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this report.