ShotSpotter Assists FBI, Franklin County Sheriff in Apprehending Ohio Sniper Suspect

Business Wire, March 22, 2004

Business Editors

COLUMBUS, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004

ShotSpotter, Inc., the country's leading developer of gunshot location systems and technology, announced today that its products were used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in their investigation of accused Ohio highway sniper Charles A. McCoy Jr. Several ShotSpotter Gunshot Location Systems were deployed in the area of interest during the months-long operation that was headed jointly by the FBI and the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

ShotSpotter was contact by the FBI in late 2003 and deployed the first of its ShotSpotter GLS Systems within days. "The ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System does exactly what it promises to do," said Sergeant Ross Staggs, Detective Bureau, Franklin County Sheriff's Department. "Knowing the precise location and timing of a shooting within seconds is crucial, and knowing whether the shooter was moving, which the ShotSpotter system also tells us, is even more important."

"We are honored to have been able to assist in this investigation," said Major General (Ret.) Steve Siegfried, former head of Homeland Security for South Carolina and vice chairman of ShotSpotter. "Gunfire remains the single leading cause of homicide death in this country, and it is ShotSpotter's mission to help control it."

The ShotSpotter system uses the principle of acoustic triangulation to provide accurate locations for gunshot events in urban environments. ShotSpotter systems can detect gunfire over two miles away. The system is hardened to account for and filter out local anomalies and echoes often prevalent in noisy cities, and can even tell the difference between a gunshot and a car backfiring or a firecracker going off.

Sniper suspect Charles A. McCoy Jr. was arrested the morning of March 18 by FBI and local law enforcement personnel in Las Vegas, NV, where he had been under surveillance. Earlier in the week, the Sheriff's office released his photograph and a description of his vehicle, naming him a suspect in a string of highway shootings in and around the Columbus, Ohio area.

About ShotSpotter, Inc.

ShotSpotter, Inc., the leading developer of gunshot location systems and technology, is based in Mountain View, CA. ShotSpotter's flagship product, which detects gunfire across large urban areas using a small number of inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors, currently protects over 1,000,000 citizens in cities nationwide, from Los Angeles, CA to Charleston, SC. With its technology covered by a US Patent, and with other patents pending, the company also offers products to the homeland security and military markets. ShotSpotter technology has produced arrests and weapons confiscations nationwide, and has helped reduce gunfire and crime rates in cities which deploy it. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.shotspotter.com, or call 1-888-2-SHOTSP.