Man arrested after singer shot in the head

DENVER - The man suspected of shooting Grammy-winning singer Marc Cohn in the head during a botched carjacking was arrested after a standoff at an abandoned Denver house, police said.

Joseph Yachteen, 26, was taken into custody for shooting and slightly wounding Cohn and the singer's road manager on Sunday night, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

Cohn was released from a Denver hospital Monday morning after surgeons removed a bullet from his right temple that lodged in the 46-year-old singer's skull. Jackson said the bullet nicked Cohn's road manager Tom Dube before it struck the singer.

"The bullet shattered glass and grazed (Dube's) chin which probably slowed its velocity," Jackson said.

Cohn won a Grammy in 1991 and is best known for his hit song "Walking in Memphis." He is married to ABC News correspondent and anchor Elizabeth Vargas.

Police said Cohn was riding in a van driven by Dube after performing on Sunday when Yachteen tried to commandeer the vehicle. When Dube refused to stop, Yachteen fired into the vehicle, wounding both men.

Yachteen was fleeing from police and was suspected of using a stolen credit card to pay for a Denver hotel room.

After Yachteen fled the scene in another stolen car, Denver police summoned the US Marshals Service, Deputy US Marshal Steve Wallisch said.

Wallisch said marshals, acting on an anonymous tip, staked out Yachteen's girlfriend's father's house and stopped the woman when she drove away. Yachteen, who was hiding on the car's floorboards, ran from the car and holed up in an abandoned house, which was quickly surrounded by police.

After several hours of unsuccessful negotiations, police fired tear gas into the house. Yachteen emerged with a handgun and officers shot him with nonlethal rubber bullets and subdued him, police spokesman Jackson said.

Yachteen was wanted for skipping a court date on drug and weapons possession charges, Jackson said, adding that he now faces an additional 24 charges. "Obviously the most serious is attempted first-degree murder," Jackson said.

- REUTERS