‘I shot a couple of cops,’ suspect says in voicemail

ELKO -- During the search for a man accused of shooting a Nevada sheriff's deputy, the suspect called a family member and left a chilling voicemail, "I shot a couple of cops. Goodbye."

Testimony continued Tuesday at the preliminary hearing for Peter Mark Coca, charged with attempting to kill seven law enforcement officers during a shootout with police in Wells on Feb. 24.

Senior Judge Barbara Nethery is expected to decide this week whether Coca should be bound over for trial on the charges, which include attempted murder, domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors at the hearing in Elko County Justice Court on Monday played a recording of one of the messages they say Coca, 43, left for his stepmother while he was the target of a days-long manhunt: "I'm not going to make it tonight. Tell my boys I love them. I just found out Tracie's been cheating on me. I shot a couple of cops. Goodbye."

Elko County Sheriff's Deputy Lenwood VanNatter was the only officer injured in the shootout. He suffered a critical injury after being shot in the chest and would be dead if not for his bulletproof vest, officials have said. He also was hit in the hip, thigh, groin and lower leg.

Sheriff's Lt. Marvin Morton testified Monday that Coca admitted he shot at officers and thought he had killed a deputy.

Morton testified that Coca made multiple phone calls to family and police during the manhunt. In one, he said, Coca told him he would not surrender and would die shooting it out with police.

Morton said Coca wouldn't back down, even after being assured the deputy had survived.

"I won't go back now," Morton recalled Coca saying. "I've shot two of your officers and probably killed one. This is the way we'll end this."

Mark Guralnick, Coca's lead defense lawyer, suggested during his cross-examination of officers Monday that someone besides Coca might have been involved in the shooting.

Sgt. Kelly Stuehling of the Nevada Division of Investigations and sheriff's Sgt. Adrienne Brensel both testified that someone aimed a green laser light at them and fired rounds the night of the standoff. They said they had no doubt the person was trying to kill them.

"I was running for my life," Brensel said.

Stuehling later testified that he saw the laser near Brensel as he heard shots being fired.

Guralnick referred several times to the low visibility that night and pressed the officers about whether they could tell for a fact that Coca was alone on the property when they contacted him, the Elko Daily Free Press reported.

Coca surrendered to U.S. marshals without incident Feb. 26 near his home in Wells, where the assault began two nights earlier as officers responded to a report of a domestic dispute. The rural town sits on U.S. Interstate 80 about 60 miles west of the Nevada-Utah line.

Coca was waiting on the roof with a high-powered rifle and laser scope when deputies and state troopers arrived, investigators said. They said he fired at least 20 shots at the officers, -- who returned fire -- and hit VanNatter five times before escaping.