An ex-Marine - nabbed near the Canadian border after allegedly shooting two men at random in the Bronx - was labeled a potential "copycat" killer by cops who say his weekend slayings have some eerie similarities to those of the Washington-area sniper.
"We do not believe this is the sniper, but we are exploring the possibility that this is a guy who is copying those crimes," a high-ranking police official told the Daily News.
The alleged shooter lives in a northern Virginia suburb in the heart of the area being menaced by the elusive Beltway gunman.
The two victims also seemed to have been chosen at random by the suspect, Roberto Mayen, 26, who was carrying a 9-mm. handgun and had three knives strapped to his legs when he was caught, cops said. They also found a rifle-cleaning kit in his car.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said investigators were probing the Bronx slayings and comparing them with the Beltway killings "to see if there is any tie."
Cops said they did not know when Mayen came to the New York area. But his neighbors in Woodbridge, Va., told The News they last saw him late Friday night - drunk outside his home, music blaring from his idling Honda Civic.
Stole car in N.J.
Mayen - described by acquaintances as a Bible thumper who recently lost his job and broke up with his New York girlfriend - showed up in Fort Lee, N.J., around 6:30 Saturday night.
Brandishing a gun, Mayen stole a 2001 Audi AG from an elderly couple outside a Sally Ling's restaurant, cops said.
A little more than an hour later, he allegedly eased the silver Audi alongside a car on Commonwealth Ave. in the Bronx.
He stepped out and squeezed off eight shots into Joe Robles, 35, a car service driver, as Robles sat in his car, cops said.
Mayen sped off after the shooting and 13 minutes later pulled the Audi next to a parked car on White Plains Road, police said.
Kleber Valencia, 29, who also worked for a car service, was waiting outside his home for his wife and kids to pick him up. He approached the Audi before suddenly turning away.
Mayen got out of the Audi again, but this time fired only once, cops said.
Valencia's wife, Zulieka, a nurse, found him face down in the gutter with a gunshot wound to his back. She desperately tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late.
Dragnet set up
As Valencia lay dying, the NYPD launched a citywide dragnet for the shooter.
Checkpoints were set up at bridges and tunnels as helicopters flew above and 600 cops conducted a grid search of every street in the city.
Around 8 p.m., police spotted the Audi at a gas station on Soundview Ave. When the cops approached, the suspect fled, touching off a brief chase that ended when the car raced up a ramp to the Bronx River Parkway and a police van lost him.
Nearly eight hours later and 546 miles away, the same Audi, with Mayen behind the wheel, was pulled over in Houlton, Maine, near the Canadian border. It was unclear why Mayen was stopped, but police said he had changed the Audi's license plates, swapping the legal tags with the ones from his Honda.
Authorities in Maine - unaware he was wanted in the Bronx shootings - let him go.
About 5 a.m., Mayen rolled across the Canadian border, crossing at Houlton. Two hours later, he inexplicably doubled back into the U.S. and blew through a border checkpoint.
With Immigration and Naturalization Service agents and Maine state police pursuing, Mayen fled for 20 miles before he was stopped.
He was wearing dark clothes and had three martial arts-style knives taped to his legs. A 9-mm. semiautomatic Beretta was stashed in the car and a bullet was in his pocket, cops said.
Last night, Mayen was being held at a U.S. Customs facility in Maine. A Bronx homicide squad sergeant and two detectives flew north to interview him.
With Ralph R. Ortega and Bob Kappstatter
Suspect Roberto Mayen