A man was shot in the chest at a bus stop early Tuesday, and a police task force was investigating whether the shooting was connected to the serial sniper who has killed nine people this month.
Police put a widespread dragnet into place immediately after the shooting, clogging traffic on Connecticut Avenue, one of the main arteries into Washington, DC, just as the morning commute began. The shooting is being investigated as if it is related to the sniper, Montgomery County Police Capt. Nancy Demme said. She said the victim, a 40-year-old man, was wounded as he stood at the top of the steps of a commuter bus.
The shooting happened about 6 am. near an apartment building and wooded area along Connecticut Avenue. The location is near the sites of the first six sniper attacks, all on October 2 and 3. In all, 12 people have been shot in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC; three of them were critically wounded. Agents for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms combed the area near the bus stop. A police dog searched an area near a basketball court in the park. Police helicopters flew over the scene.
The victim was airlifted via helicopter to a trauma centre, he said.
On Monday, the hunt for the sniper turned into a case of high-stakes phone tag. After the latest shooting confirmed to be related to the sniper — outside a steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, on Saturday ? police said they received a call about the attack, but it was muddled.
Investigators took to the airwaves and pleaded for a response. ”The person you called could not hear everything you said. The audio was unclear and we want to get it right. Call us back so that we can clearly understand,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who has been leading the hunt.
Moose’s plea came hours after Virginia authorities surrounded a white van parked near an Exxon gas station just outside Richmond and seized two men. They said later the case was unconnected to the sniper.
With Saturday’s shooting near Richmond that left one man wounded, school officials in the area closed schools Tuesday for a second day.
Moose did not disclose who received the muddled phone call that riveted authorities’ attention, when it was made or other details. But investigators believe the call may have come from the sniper and that the caller was the same person who left a note and phone number on Saturday night at the scene of the latest shooting, said a law enforcement source.
On Sunday, Moose publicly pleaded with the note writer to call authorities. Then in the first of two televised statements on Monday, the chief said: ”The message that needs to be delivered is that we are going to respond to a message that we have received. We are preparing our response at this time.”
Separate reports on Tuesday shed more light on the message. The Los Angeles Times and Richmond Times-Dispatch said it contained a threat directed toward schools. Several media outlets reported that the killer demanded money.
The Los Angeles Times also reported on Tuesday that unidentified federal agents said the letter was ”very lengthy” and poorly worded, bordering on broken English.
The latest attack came on Saturday night in a steakhouse parking lot in Ashland. The victim, a 37-year-old man, was felled by a single shot to the stomach.
He remained in critical but stable condition at a Richmond hospital on Tuesday after doctors removed his spleen and parts of his pancreas and stomach. Surgeons retrieved the bullet after a second round of surgery on Sunday, and ballistics tests linked the slug to the ambush killer.
Witnesses said officers in bulletproof vests converged on the van and dragged out a man before slapping him in handcuffs. Authorities did not say how the second man was arrested. Hours later, the lead fell apart. A Justice Department official said deportation proceedings had begun against the 24-year-old Mexican and 35-year-old Guatemalan.
Several newspapers reported on Tuesday that the men apparently made the mistake of driving the white van up to a phone booth being watched by police. The phone booth had been traced to one that the letter writer had used. – Sapa-AP