This time, sniper left clues
Posted on 10/16/2002 6:56:18 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
This time, sniper left clues
Witness reports seeing man fire fatal shot at latest victim
10/16/2002
FALLS CHURCH, Va. - The roving sniper left more clues after Monday night's killing, with a number of witnesses getting a better, more chilling glimpse of him and his getaway van as they looked beyond his latest victim bleeding to death on the parking garage floor.
One government official described the closest, most stark sighting yet by a witness who reported seeing the gunman step brazenly from his van - about 90 feet from Linda Franklin and her husband, Ted, as they loaded shelving into their car - fire and then flee.
The slaying at Home Depot was the first time that witnesses said they saw the actual shooting, police officials said. Witnesses offered enough partial glimpses of the fleeing sniper to allow a police sketch artist to attempt a composite drawing, according to knowledgeable detectives.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another witness gave a description of a dark-skinned man, possibly Hispanic or Middle Eastern, in a white van.
Also for the first time, witnesses were able to give information about license plates on vehicles seen fleeing the scene, including a light-colored Chevrolet Astro van with a burned-out rear taillight and a roof rack.
Police released two composite images of a van that witnesses say they saw Friday near a Spotsylvania County, Va., gas station where a Philadelphia man was fatally shot. Although the images are of different makes - one an Astro van and the other a Ford Econoline, each with a ladder rack on the roof - authorities said that only one vehicle was seen and that eyewitnesses gave different accounts of the brand.
Law enforcement sources said there was no indication the sniper targeted Ms. Franklin because of her job as an intelligence operations specialist in the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center. Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation, emphasized that Ms. Franklin was not working on the sniper case.
Ballistics evidence Tuesday connected Ms. Franklin's slaying to the gunman who has killed eight other people and wounded two since Oct. 2.
AP Police officers in Fairfax County, Va., painstakingly search the area outside a Falls Church Home Depot where an FBI analyst was fatally shot Monday night. |
With the terrifying spree nearly two weeks old, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agreed Tuesday evening to provide military surveillance aircraft in the hunt for the killer, a Pentagon spokesman said. Sources said federal agents on the plane will relay any information they collect to authorities on the ground. More than half a dozen agencies already are working on the case.
The Army also has started searching its records for people with sniper training.
Separately, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said investigators are hesitant to rule out the possibility that the slayings are the work of a terrorist because there is no hard evidence about motive.
Robert Young, a Washington construction worker, returned to the shopping center Tuesday to talk with police. He said he had heard a muffled gunshot and saw a white van the night before.
Mr. Young said that as he backed his truck out of his parking spot, a white Astro van with two men inside tried to turn into his lane. He said the driver appeared very agitated to find his way blocked and instead drove by a neighboring restaurant and out of sight.
Mr. Young, who said he got a good look at the driver, described him as a short man of slight build who appeared to be Middle Eastern.
All the victims have been cut down by a single bullet fired from a distance with a high-powered rifle as they went about their everyday tasks. The sniper's only apparent communication with investigators has been a tarot death card inscribed, "Dear Policeman, I am God."
Chief Moose said there appeared to be similarities between the van seen at Friday's shooting and the van from Monday night's attack. Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger would not say whether witnesses to the latest attack were able to give complete license plate numbers to investigators.
"Each shooting has revealed more to this investigation. We're encouraged every day," said Michael Bouchard, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The sniper escaped a huge dragnet around Falls Church, 10 miles west of the nation's capital. Traffic was backed up for miles as police surrounded and searched dozens of white vans.
Tod Burke, a former Maryland police officer who teaches criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia, said the killer is either escaping before the dragnet comes down or has some kind of hideout where he can watch the chaos that erupts.
Meanwhile, the tension has climbed steadily in the Washington suburbs. On Tuesday, the flood of tips, many of them false alarms from edgy residents, prompted Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening to ban outdoor shooting in four Washington-area counties.
Outside the Home Depot, shoppers tentatively returned while officers made a last sweep for evidence and towed the victim's red convertible away.
Who said anything about a AK-74? It isn't a very accurate rifle from what I've heard..
Lots of stuff on last night's threads. I'm not the expert.
Yeah, I use the DMN quite a bit. I get annoyed at their popup ads all the time.
I hope they catch these jerks, and soon.......
But to the serious stuff: The radio says the police have not produced a rendering of the suspect because the descriptions vary so much.
This tell me there are more than 1, more than 2. I think they'll find 3 or more of these guys. And I think it'll be very soon. (just a gut feel there).
There are several conflicting 2nd and 3rd hand "witness accounts" floating about, but this one is demonstrably false.
The shooting took place at approximately 09:15:00. The 911 call was received at 09:19:00. Four police cars were on the scene by 09:21:52 (the first at 09:20:44). The roadblocks did not go up until approximately 09:30:00. At the time immediately after the shooting, and for at least 15 minutes thereafter, there were no roadblocks on Rt. 50.
We can say with some certainty that they didn't just sit there for 15 minutes, with a parking lot full of police only yards away.
Second, if he was in the access road (not detailed in any witness account, but in my view likely), there is a 15-foot grass median between that and Rt. 50. Then, there is a second median between the east and west sides of Rt. 50. Which median was he seen crossing? One? Both?
Crossing one would send them eastbound on Rt. 50. Crossing both would send them westbound. There are other "witness" accounts saying they went east, or that they went west. Which of these is true or accurate?
Until the police release an account of actual eyewitness reports, nothing should be taken as gospel. The newsies are propagating dribs and drabs of "witness reports" which are either in direct conflict or which make no logical sense, as above.
I forsee civil actions against Moose for incompetence by the victims families.
Re: crossing the median. I doubt if the report is false. It might be irrelevant to the shooting.
Which median? There are two.
My point is that these witness accounts are too incomplete to draw any useful conclusions. That's not the fault of the direct witnesses, but rather of the newsies who are propagating them in the name of "scoop."
This latest shooting was from 90 foot away.
We're talking bow & arrow, or sling shot ranges.
Good one.
However I have it on reasonable authority that the FBI is aware of the ME terrorist angle, and is working it.
Molon Labe!
I wasn't aware that the AK-74 was sold in that configuration, and thought that the rifle only fired 5.45x39. I guess that means that it very well could have been a AK-74 that a witness had seen..
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.
