KNOX TOWNSHIP SHOOTING Cops postpone questioning of suspect

An effort to talk to the suspect ended when he asked to see an attorney first.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Authorities have failed in their initial efforts to question a man suspected in the April 7 homicide of a Knox Township woman.
Investigators tried unsuccessfully late last week to question Gregory Doak, 44, also of Knox Township, Jerry Herbert, a Columbiana County sheriff's detective, said today.
Doak invoked his right to have an attorney present during questioning, so the interview effort was postponed until a later date, Herbert explained.
Doak has been moved to a private, intensive-care room at Akron City Hospital, where he is under 24-hour guard.
He is suffering from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. A condition update from the hospital was unavailable late this morning. Doak is expected to fully recover.
Doak has yet to be charged in the death of Teresa Stoffer, 42.
Wife escaped
Authorities said Doak went April 7 to the mobile home park along U.S. Route 62 where Stoffer lived.
He was armed with a semiautomatic rifle and was targeting his estranged wife, Angela Doak, 39, and Stoffer. The two women were friends and neighbors, authorities said.
Doak fatally shot Stoffer, according to authorities. Angela Doak fled from the scene, and Doak shot himself inside his wife's mobile home after discovering she was gone.
Domestic strife between Doak and his wife is being cited as the motive.
Another shooting
The sheriff's department also is continuing its investigation into the shooting Wednesday of Thomas Rice, 55, of 13484 state Route 7, Madison Township.
Rice was in critical condition at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh after the shooting. An update on his condition also was unavailable late this morning.
Rice was shot about seven times in his right side with a handgun, which authorities have not found, Herbert said.
The sheriff's department arrested Michaelene Duffy, 43, of St. Jacob-Logtown Road, Center Township, hours after the shooting.
She is charged with felonious assault in Rice's shooting and is to appear Monday in county municipal court in Lisbon for a preliminary hearing.
Duffy was being held this morning in the county jail on $100,000 cash or surety bond.
She and Rice were involved in an ongoing dispute over Rice's evicting her from property he owns, authorities have said.