Task Force: Caller Claims To Be Serial Shooter

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The serial shooting task force is investigating a call made to police from someone claiming to be the shooter.

Franklin County sheriff Chief Deputy Steve Martin said Friday the call was made to Columbus police, but would not say when the call was made.

"That's something we're evaluating right now," Martin said. "We're taking it seriously."

Martin said the call was the first law enforcement has received from someone claiming responsibility for the series of shootings along the south outerbelt, including one that killed a woman along Interstate 270 in November.

No other shootings have been linked since a bullet struck a car Jan. 21 near the Lambert Road overpass, close to the Franklin-Pickaway county line. The shooting was the 20th linked by geographic location to the serial shooter or shooters.

The driver, Michael Thomas, said that he was driving north on Interstate 71 when he saw a parked car on the Lambert Road overpass right before two shots were fired. Thomas claimed one of the shots hit his car's hood. The other shot, he said, struck the car's windshield.

Thomas then told authorities that he saw the motorist along the overpass drive away from the scene. He said it was a large car with rectangular taillights.

A neighbor said that she heard two shots that were fired at the time of the incident.

The shooting was the southernmost incident that the task force has linked to the shooter or shooters.

A reward for information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the shooter or shooters responsible for Knisley's death on Nov. 25 stands at $60,000.

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call the task force's tip line at (614) 462-4646.

Caller Claims to Be Ohio Highway Sniper

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

Associated Press Writer

01/30/2004 19:40:22 EST

In the first claim of responsibility, a man called police four times to say he was the highway shootings sniper, police said Friday. At least two of the calls disconnected.

Jay LaPrete/AP Photo

The caller described himself as the shooter several times during the calls that arrived in a two-minute span on Monday, police said.

The man said he fired at a car that day but did not claim responsibility for any of the 20 shootings since May that police have connected to the case, including the death of an auto passenger in November.

A task force investigating the shootings at cars, school buses and homes along or near Interstate 270 is trying to determine whether the caller is the gunman, Franklin County sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said.

In the first call, the man said, "I'm the highway shooter." Calling back, he said he had shot into a car on Interstate 71, which intersects the outerbelt around Columbus.

No such shooting was reported to investigators that day.

The police dispatcher appeared not to take the caller seriously, according to the 911 tapes, saying "whatever" a couple of times and "Yea. Yea. Yea."

At another point she said, "You just want attention, don't you."

She also asked the caller to stay on the line while the call was traced. The call ended soon after.

Police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio at first said a police dispatcher had hung up on the caller twice. After reviewing the 911 tapes further, police said they were investigating how the calls were disconnected.

No new shootings have been linked to the case since Jan. 22, when a car was hit on I-71. That driver said he thought the gunfire came from a highway overpass and he saw someone standing in shadows.

Investigators have regularly asked the person responsible for the shootings to call a phone tip line or write to authorities.

I can't believe the 911 operator acted the way she did. How utterly unprofessional. What an idiot. I couldn't believe my ears when they played the tape. Where do they find these people and how in the world are they trained? Unless 911 operators are constantly receiving calls from people claiming to be the shooter I see no reason why she should have acted in such an arrogant manner.

I'm not sure how Channel 4 news got the recording. They said the task force wouldn't release the tape but they could listen to it. I wonder if it was recorded and released secretly? It sure sounded that way to me. They should release the best copy possible in case someone can identify the voice.

Day by day I grow more skeptical of the way Martin is handling this investigation.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.