Gun shot at Days Hotel leads to arrest of Poca man

Trooper A. L. Groves of the Sutton Detachment of the West Virginia State Police received a call just after midnight on Monday, October 7 that there was an active shooter at the Day Hotel in Flatwoods. While Trooper Groves, accompanied by Deputies Vest and Cochran of the Braxton County Sheriff’s Department, were in route to the scene, Braxton Control advised that gunshot appeared to come from room 304.
Upon arrival the officer’s investigation confirmed that the shot had actually came from outside the facility. Upon further examination of the scene, the Trooper discovered what appeared to be a 50-caliber bullet lodged in the leg of a table in room 304.
The officers’ investigation led them to the parking lot and into a field near the hotel where they discovered rubber gloves and two cigarettes.
The evidence led Trooper Groves to connect the shooting with an investigation at the same location in the afternoon of the previous day. That report regarded the possibility of a “pipe boom” being found at the facility. Trooper gathered evidence that included gun powder, primers, BB’s and shotgun shell which he connected to a subject by the name of Gary Wayne Cochran of Poca, WV.
By viewing video surveillance tapes, officers tracked Cochran as he left the hotel, then apparently traveled to the Sutton Lane Motel on Routes 4 & 19.
Officers contacted the subject at the motel where he admitted to having a 50-caliber muzzleloader. Trooper Groves also found primers, as well as rubber gloves and cigarettes that matched those found at the other locations.
Cochran was charged with 3 counts of felony wonton endangerment involving a firearm. At the time the shot was fired into room 304 at the Days Hotel, three individuals were inside that room. Additionally, a total of 117 people were in the facility.
Cochran was arraigned before Braxton County Magistrate David Singleton where his bond was set at $25,000 cash only. Cochran, 27, was taken to the Central Regional Jail in lieu of that bond, where he remains at press-time to await additional court appearances.