Posted on 12/18/2003 7:34:59 AM PST by flutters
The south Outerbelt sniper resumed shooting again this week after a 15-day hiatus, hitting a home that is out of his usual territory.
Meanwhile, task-force members scrambled last night chasing leads that included two South-Western school bus shootings, two more homes with bullet holes and a man involved in a wreck with a fleeing car.
None of the incidents last night has been tied to the sniper.
Because of the bus shootings, South-Western City Schools announced last night that all schools within the district will be closed today.
The holes in the buses were in the rear of both vehicles and found yesterday during a routine inspection. It’s unclear where or when the buses were shot, Superintendent R. Kirk Hamilton said.
Given the school district’s proximity to the shooting area, school officials said they thought it wise to close the schools until they have time to confer with the sheriff’s office.
Hamilton declined to say which buses were shot and which routes those buses travel.
"Given the little information we have, we feel that the prudent thing is to cancel classes and activities (Thursday)," Hamilton said last night. "If we’re going to err, we’re going to err on the side of safety."
Hamilton said officials will use the day off today to inspect all of the district’s 200 buses.
Meanwhile, those with the task force confirmed that the sniper has struck at least once again this week, firing into a house at 901 Brown Rd., in Franklin Township.
The home is about 3 miles north of the center of previously confirmed shootings, indicating the shooter has expanded his boundaries.
So far, the Franklin Township house shooting, which was connected to the sniper yesterday, remains the first and only new incident linked to the shooter in 15 days.
Seven shootings, including the one at 901 Brown Rd. and one that killed a woman passenger on I-270 in November, have now been linked to the same gun. There have been 16 shootings overall thought to be connected to the sniper.
The task force investigating the shootings said the bullet hit a bathtub at the Brown Road house, which is just west of Green Lawn Cemetery.
Ronald Edwards, who was home at the time, believes it was fired into the house he rents about 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Edwards, 48, told a neighbor that he heard three shots about that time but didn’t realize his house was hit until he found the bullet in the bathroom the next morning.
Another bullet hole was found in the second story of the house. A third shot likely missed the house.
It’s possible, however, that the third shot hit the home of Edwards’ next-door neighbor.
Last night, Frank Giles, 33, of 917 Brown Rd., was talking with task-force members about a hole in the side of his house.
Giles said "at least 20 ATF guys" with dogs and metal detectors inspected his property last night.
One task-force member confirmed they were looking for evidence related to the shootings. Giles said they will return today to tear off siding and look for a bullet.
Giles said he heard loud booms sometime between Sunday night and early Monday.
He said he wasn’t sure whether the booms were gunshots.
In addition last night, a third resident, near the intersection of Brown and Dyer roads, reported hearing shots fired shortly after 10 last night and damage to his home.
The homeowner ran outside to see a car speeding away on Dyer.
Shortly after, a motorist called authorities, saying his car had been hit by a car speeding on Dyer, near Rt. 104.
The car he described matched that of the car seen in the shooting area. He told police it forced him off the road.
Authorities didn’t release a specific description of that car last night, but were reporting via dispatchers to watch for a blue or teal compact car with front-end damage.
Witnesses to the Monday night shooting on Brown also reported seeing a car speed from the area. They said the bullet seemed to be fired from either Brown Road or the nearby cemetery.
Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin, spokesman for the task force that is investigating the shootings, talked yesterday about the Monday shooting being fairly far from where other shootings have occurred.
"We’ve never narrowed the scope of our investigation," Martin said. "There are bullets landing all over Franklin County."
Yesterday, Edwards wouldn’t talk about Monday’s incident, but his landlord and neighbors in Franklin Township were on edge.
Douglas Severt owns the house Edwards rents and lives nearby. He said he awoke to the sound of gunfire.
"I only heard one shot," Severt said. "It sounded like it was right beside my window, so it must be a powerful gun."
But others heard more shots, and the time of the shootings was said to be anywhere between 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.
Harry "Peanut" Lilley was watching the news when he heard three shots, with a brief pause between each.
"The first one went off and I hit the door," said Lilley, 54, who ran outside with a handgun. "It was really loud so I know it wasn’t too far away."
Next door, Charles Hall was watching late-night football.
"Bam, bam, bam. Three shots. Real quick," said the 74-year-old retiree.
He flipped back the curtain on the window, which faces Edwards’ home.
"Just in time to see the tail lights disappear," he said of a car he watched go south on Brown Road.
"Crazy. He’s branching out," Hall said of the sniper. "I know it scared the hell out of me when I heard it was the shooter."
The task force has refused to discuss ballistics evidence or possible weapons used by the sniper.
Late yesterday, detectives with the sheriff’s office stopped traffic and stretched fluorescent pink string from the holes in the Brown Road house across Brown Road.
"It’s kind of scary to think it would be this close," Severt said. "I hope to God they catch them. Anybody could have been sitting in that bathtub."
Dispatch reporters John Futty, Matthew Marx and Nick Juliano and photographer James D. De-Camp contributed to this story.
The driver of this car, left, said he was forced off Rt. 104 late last night. The other car matched the description of one seen near where shots were fired at a house on Brown Road.
An agent with the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation checks the trajectory of a bullet at 901 Brown Rd.
I heard on the radio that they completed the inspections of the other buses and found no more bullet holes.
If not, it sounds like it is time to start shooting back
Is there a ballistic/forensic expert on FR ?
It's my understanding that the 'string' method only works in localized areas, e.g. within a room/building or small open area. Streching string across a highway seems a little futile.
Sag of the string, wind deflection...and the fact that the 'indexing' points for the string would be very short, in this case I'm assuming from the inside of the home wall to the exterior entry point...a misalignment of the string in these 'index' holes would produce an eggregious error over longer range...
A laser would be a better indicator of point of origin but even it would only yield a bearing not an elevation...but over the range these shots seem to be coming from that should be enough to get in the ball park...
Not yet but there is a CCW Bill in the house now. We are hoping Gov. Taft doesn't veto it.
[Not yet but there is a CCW Bill in the house now. We are hoping Gov. Taft doesn't veto it.]
a gun control fanatic twisted enough to consider the act of randomly shooting people an acceptable anti-CCW public relations campaign.
If not, it sounds like it is time to start shooting back.
It is always time to shoot back when faced with a deadly assault. Shooter's like this are the ultimate coward.
If the LEOs were making use of metal detectors in their search for evidence,then I would guess jacketed bullets are likely being used.That's not much to go on and there are a few other bullet types that could be found with a metal detector but they wouldn't be very common.
Also though,they might be looking for cartridge cases with the metal detectors.
At least the car involved is possibly damaged which could be a "big" break if LE gives as much info on the vehicle as they "possibly" can to the public. :)
Out of curiosity, does anyone know who pays for the damage when something like this (removing the houses' siding) is done?
Authorities didn’t release a specific description of that car last night, but were reporting via dispatchers to watch for a blue or teal compact car with front-end damage.
Sniper, buses not yet linked
Two South-Western students may have been on board when one bullet hit
Friday, December 19, 2003
John Futty and Bruce Cadwallader THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A lack of ballistic evidence is making it difficult for investigators to decide whether two South-Western school buses that were struck by bullets this week are linked to a series of shootings in southern Franklin County.
Yesterday, officials with the task force investigating the shootings confirmed that both buses were hit while on their routes. One bus possibly had children in it when it was hit.
One bus, officials say, was shot near Brown Road and Ransburg Avenue in Franklin Township, within view of a house struck by a bullet this week that investigators say came from the same gun that killed a woman riding in a car on the south Outerbelt last month.
The other bus was shot near Alkire and Demorest roads, adjacent to the south Outerbelt.
So far, proximity to other shootings isn’t enough for investigators to connect the damaged buses to the serial shootings.
"We’re in the process of collectively deciding whether we’re going to do that or not," Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin, spokesman for the task force, said yesterday.
The task force of local, state and federal lawenforcement officials has identified 16 shootings, most involving vehicles on or near the south Outerbelt, that they think are connected.
Both of the South-Western buses were damaged by single bullets near their right taillights, Martin said. The bullets did not penetrate the buses.
Because the bullets weren’t recovered, those shootings can’t be linked ballistically to the serial shooter. So far, seven shootings, including the fatal one, have positively been linked to the same gun.
Martin said two children were on the bus that was struck at Brown and Ransburg around 4:25 p.m. either Monday or Tuesday, but South-Western Superintendent R. Kirk Hamilton said the driver still isn’t sure whether the shot came before or after the last two students were dropped off.
Officials are certain that no children were on the bus shot at Alkire and Demorest roads around 7 a.m. Wednesday.
The damage to the buses was discovered Wednesday afternoon. Hamilton said he learned about it around 3 p.m. He then canceled school for the entire district yesterday, later extending the cancellation to today. The district’s holiday break begins Monday.
The drivers of the buses hadn’t reported shots fired because they didn’t know the noise was a gunshot until damage was found.
One dent was discovered when a mechanic from the district and an auto-body specialist were inspecting buses to see which ones needed body work, Hamilton said.
The other dent was noticed by another bus driver as the bus was parking in the district’s lot.
Martin was noncommittal when asked about the significance of a bus being shot so close to the house at 910 Brown Rd. that was struck late Sunday or early Monday by two bullets, one of which was found in a second-floor bathtub.
"What it says is that the bus and the house were both shot in the same general vicinity," Martin said.
The bullet recovered from the Brown Road house was a ballistic match for the gun that killed Gail Knisley, a 62-year-old passenger in a car hit Nov. 25 on I-270 near I-71.
She is the only person struck by a bullet in the string of shootings, which have hit numerous vehicles, an elementary school and two houses.
Meanwhile, Martin said that damage to a house next door to the Brown Road house, at 917 Brown Rd., appears to have no match to the shooter.
Martin also downplayed reports that an automobile accident Wednesday night at Brown and Dyer roads, in which one car forced another off the road and fled the scene, might be linked to the serial shootings.
He disputed reports that the accident occurred minutes after shots were heard nearby at 1666 Dyer Rd. "We think the accident occurred before the shooting call went out," he said.
According to sheriff’s office radio-room records, the first call about the gunshots came in at 9:59 p.m.; the accident was reported at 10:29 p.m.
Asked about the time discrepancy last night, Martin said he stands by his comments at the news briefing, when he estimated the accident occurred eight to 10 minutes before the shooting.
There had been speculation Wednesday night that a fleeing driver was involved in the Dyer Road shooting.
The accident was not reported until a passerby stopped to help the person whose car was hit and knocked off the road.
Investigators examined what appeared to be a bullet hole at the Dyer Road address, but Martin said they determined "the hole is old and currently occupied by a nest of hornets. It is believed that this case is most likely unrelated."
For the first time, the daily news conference included brief remarks by Franklin County Commissioner Dewey Stokes and Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.
Both expressed support for the work of the task force.
Martin said patrols have been increased around schools in response to the bus shootings.
Deputy Police Chief John Rockwell said up to 50 Columbus police officers have been assigned to task-force duties.
"It’s a dynamic number every day, but it includes SWAT officers and SRB (Strategic Response Bureau) officers. We are increasing patrols in the areas affected," he said.
Sheriff Jim Karnes refused to specify how many county deputies are working just on taskforce business.
"It’s a bunch," Karnes said.
The State Highway Patrol confirmed six to 10 additional troopers a day are assigned to the case.
Dispatch reporters Geoff Dutton and Nick Juliano contributed to this story.
jfutty@dispatch.com
http://www.dispatch.com/reports-story.php?story=dispatch/2003/12/02/270shootings.html
The information about the blue or teal car is on this thread:
Sniper strikes again, hits house / South-Western buses struck; classes canceled
Authorities didn’t release a specific description of that car last night, but were reporting via dispatchers to watch for a blue or teal compact car with front-end damage.
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