The suspect in the drive-by shooting that took place at Yoga Central Studio at 6003 10th St. on Feb. 10 was arrested by the Rush County Sheriff’s Department on Feb. 28, Great Bend Police Chief Couch said.
According to a news release issued Thursday by the Great Bend Police Department, Michele Cresci was arrested by the Rush County Sheriff’s Office for charges related to a Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office investigation. The GBPD is currently in the process of arranging for charges to be pressed against Cresci in Barton County for the shooting that took place at the yoga studio.
Security camera footage showed a person pulling up in front of the studio at night, getting out of a van, and shooting several rounds through the front of the studio on Feb. 10. No one was in the building at the time.
While investigating the shooting, Great Bend detectives quickly found that several other area law enforcement agencies were investigating similar occurrences. The agencies shared information, and a detention officer at the Pawnee County Jail recognized Cresci as someone that had recently been booked into their jail.
Using this information, GBPD Detective Heather McLemore and investigators from various other agencies were able to locate Cresci in Rush County on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
In subsequent interviews, Cresci confessed that she was the person in the video of the Yoga Central shooting, according to the news release.
“Many people assume that this should have been a quick and easy case to solve, just because security footage was available,” Chief Couch stated. “It only works that way on TV. Det. McLemore and our neighboring law enforcement partners put a tremendous amount of effort into solving this case, and I’m proud that they were able to hopefully bring a little justice to the victims of these crimes.”
As there are various possibly related cases involved in this incident, the GBPD will be referring any questions about the other incidents to the agencies investigating them.
The Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to calls from the Great Bend Tribune on Thursday.