Multiple Shootings Reported Sunday Near I-71

NBC 4 Columbus ^ | February 7, 2004

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Two Overpasses Closed Over Highway

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State routes 38 and 41 in Fayette County are closed over Interstate 71 as the serial shooting task force investigates multiple shootings, NewsChannel 4 reported.

There is no word on if any injuries were reported.

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Developing...

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Ping

[cripplecreek]

Dont suppose they're looking for a white truck with anyone other than a minority or female do you?

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State routes 38 and 41 in Fayette County are closed over Interstate 71 as the serial shooting task force investigates multiple shootings, NewsChannel 4 reported.

Two vehicles were shot along Interstate 71 Sunday morning, and authorities searched for a dark sports car that may have been connected, law enforcement officials said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the shootings were related to a string of 21 linked sniper shootings along highways in the Columbus area, including the death of a passenger in November.

No injuries were reported in the shootings near a mall about 40 miles southwest of Columbus about 11:30 a.m., said Jerri Redfern, a State Highway Patrol dispatcher in the Lebanon post.

Redfern said the shootings are reported to have come from an overpass and that bullets struck the vehicles.

Patrol spokesman Lt. Rick Fambro said that troopers were on the scene, and that any evidence collected would be turned over to a task force investigating the highway shootings.

[Indie]

This person is just asking to get caught...or preferably shot by the police.

[Ghengis]

My sister-in-law was caught up in all of this as she tried to get on I-71 at Rt. 41 today. When I think of all the times my family and I have and must travel through that area...

...Well, I'll be Christian about my thoughts and just hope the cops get this/these idiot/idiots before they hurt anyone else.

[GaltMeister]

Could it be another evil SUV causing all this mayhem?

[Bobibutu]

Ohio Youths With Pellet Gun Taken Into Custody

Sunday, February 08, 2004




Jeffersonville, OH — Two juveniles with a pellet gun have been taken into custody today after the State Highway Patrol received two reports of vehicles being shot along Interstate 71.


It wasn't immediately clear if the two were responsible for the reported shootings about 38 miles southwest of Columbus (search). They were taken into custody after officers in the area were told to be looking for a small dark car.


Patrol Lieutenant Rick Fambro (search) says a trooper saw a dark sports car with its doors open on an exit ramp near where the shootings were reported. The trooper pursued the car and stopped it for speeding.


Fambro says a pellet gun was found underneath the driver's seat. The car's occupants are being questioned.


It isn't clear whether the events are connected to a string of 21 linked sniper shootings along highways in the Columbus area, including the death of a passenger in November. No injuries have been reported today.

[Flightdeck]

I saw a dead body on I-71 just north of Columbus once. It was hit by an 18-wheeler; police hadn't gotten there yet. Freaked me out. I drove veerry carefully the rest of the way down.

[kAcknor]

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[saluki_in_ohio]

I just happened to drive by where the latest shootings occurred on I-71. I was coming back with my girlfriend from Cincinnati to London, OH on I-71 heading northbound. Traffic was backed up northbound I-71 from the OH SR 41 to the OH SR 38 exit.

We saw several Fayette County Sheriff and Ohio Highway Patrol vehicles wand 5-6 officers with metal detectors scouring the area along a township road bridge crossing I-71 just south of the OH SR 38 exit (Bloomingburg/Midway/Sedalia) We got off on the SR 38 exit and there was a whole bunch of media vehicles with Ohio Highway patrol vehicles at the Sunoco station near the exit.

[JOE43270]

These people in law enforcement need to take some some lessons from Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock USMC. The way to find a sniper is with another sniper. They don't need to take the people out like Hathcock did but the need to take off those uniforms and get out of those marked cars and hunt for the sniper or snipers. In my thinking those D. C. area snipers would have been found a lot sooner using this method.

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Suspect's Description Released Following Sunday Shootings

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the first time, the task force investigating a series of shootings Sunday released a description of the person believed to be the suspect after two vehicles were fired upon hours earlier.

The vehicles were struck within minutes from separate overpasses late Sunday morning along Interstate 71 in Fayette County.

Both incidents were reported around 11:20 a.m. just north of Jeffersonville, Ohio. Two vehicles, a Mercedes and a Chrysler station wagon, were struck in the hood. No one was injured in either shooting, Franklin County Sheriff's Office Chief Steve Martin said.

According to Martin, witnesses spotted a white man with a handgun. He was believed to be 30-40 years old. The man, who was believed to be driving a dark-colored vehicle, allegedly fired shots from the Brock Road overpass and then went to the Prairie Road overpass.

Martin said that evidence recovered at the scene was consistent with previous shooting scenes.

The evidence recovered Sunday was taken to the Columbus police crime lab for examination. More findings were to be released at a news briefing scheduled for Monday afternoon.

[CharlotteVRWC]

thanks for ping

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Martin held a press conference and the two teens were released. See my previous post for updated information.

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Thanks for the report. I'm glad you made it home ok. Traffic must have been a mess. This guy is pretty bold and appears to be getting bolder. I hope the description that Martin released today leads to an arrest.

[Ciexyz]

Prayers offered for everyone's safety.

[CharlotteVRWC]

Jeffersonville

Two Cars Shot Along I-71

by Carrie Guenther, Ohio News Network

February 8, 2004

The Franklin County Sheriff's Department says a description of a suspect in two shootings Sunday is a "positive leap forward."

Investigators say two shootings Sunday near Jeffersonville in Fayette County on I-71 are consistent with 21 other linked shootings near I-270 in Columbus, but the new shootings have not yet been positively matched.

Franklin County Sheriff Chief Deputy Steve Martin says one victim identified the shooter as a white male, between 30 and 40 years old driving a small, dark colored car.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Department will hold a news conference Monday at 3:30 p.m. to update the case.

Investigators are still examining the two cars that were hit, a white van and a brown Mercedes.

The two shootings happened just a mile apart from each other, around 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

State Highway Patrol dispatcher Jerri Redfern says no injuries have been reported in the shootings Sunday morning.

Two juveniles with a pellet gun were taken into custody Sunday after the shootings, but investigators do not believe they were involved in the shootings.

If you have any information that could help police, you are asked to call the Franklin County Sheriff's Department tip line at (614) 462-4646.

The reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction is at $60,000.

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Cross Linking

The Ohio Sniper Strikes Again: WHERE IS THE COVERAGE?

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SERIAL SNIPER INVESTIGATION
2 shootings witnessed
Motorists describe possible shooter in attacks along I-71 in Fayette County
Monday, February 09, 2004
Randy Ludlow and John Futty
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Two cars shot on I71

TIM REVELL | DISPATCH
Mansfield’s Douglas Berry said he saw the gunman who put the bullet hole, foreground, in his hood.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ohio — The serial sniper, or an imitator, is becoming more brazen, firing from separate overpasses and striking two vehicles minutes apart yesterday morning on I-71 in Fayette County.

The shooter, described as a white man in his 30s or 40s driving a dark-colored car, fired at northbound traffic from the Brock Road and Prairie Road overpasses — about 1 mile apart — beginning about 11:20 a.m.

One shot struck the center of the hood of a gray Mercedes about 6 inches from the windshield, and another bullet struck the right side of the hood of a white minivan.

People in both vehicles saw the shooter and his car.

"I saw him park his car, get out of it, walk to the rail and take his shot," said Douglas Berry, 51, of Mansfield, the driver of the Mercedes that was pierced from the Prairie Road overpass.

"It sounded like a boom, a blast," Berry said, describing the weapon as sounding like a "large-caliber gun." He thought the shooter had a handgun because he said he would have noticed a rifle.

"I’m blessed today," Berry said of his close call with the bullet that pierced his car about 3 feet from where he sat.

No one was injured in the shootings, about 35 miles southwest of Columbus and 3 miles northeast of Jeffersonville.

While not yet confirmed as the 22 nd and 23 rd shootings in the serial sniper case, evidence found at the overpasses appeared consistent with prior shootings, said Chief Deputy Steve Martin of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

"I’d say this individual is pretty brazen," said Martin, spokesman for the task force investigating the shootings.

He said witnesses offered the best descriptions yet of a shooter who has gone unseen in most of the incidents.

The daylight shootings continue a trend in which the shooter has moved progressively farther southwest and beyond Franklin County to target vehicles traversing I-71.

The last confirmed sniper shooting occurred Tuesday afternoon when the windshield of a van driven by a Pennsylvania man was struck by a bullet fired from the Kiousville-Palestine Road overpass on I-71 in Madison County.

The shooter is probably moving as part of his cat-and-mouse game with law enforcement, said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston and an expert on serial crimes.

Levin wouldn’t be surprised if the shooter is making himself more visible.

"He probably feels invincible," Levin said. "After all, he’s gotten away with these shootings for months and he hasn’t seen police officers or FBI agents over his shoulder. He feels superior to law enforcement; he feels invulnerable. Therefore, he becomes careless. That is how many of these guys get caught."

The Tuesday shooting near the Madison-Pickaway county line is about 17 miles northeast of yesterday’s shootings.

In yesterday’s shootings, four women — at least two from Baltimore, Ohio — were traveling north on I-71 when a bullet apparently fired from the Brock Road overpass struck their minivan.

One of the Fairfield County women in the van declined to comment when contacted last night. "She’s in no shape to talk right now," her husband said.

Tiffany Birchfield, 21, of Mount Sterling, was working in the Midway Mini Mart at I-71 and Rt. 38 when the women entered after stopping to look for the source of a loud sound they heard.

"They thought that a rock might have hit (the van), but when they stopped, they saw the bullet hole," Birchfield said. "They were crying."

Birchfield overheard the women, who were not identified, tell a deputy sheriff that they saw a white man with light hair and a black compact car parked on the Brock Road overpass.

"This is getting too close to home and pretty scary," Birchfield said.

Berry, a supervisor at the General Motors stamping plant in Mansfield, was driving north on I-71 while returning from a friend’s wedding in Cincinnati when he noticed a car pull to a stop on the Prairie Road overpass.

"That’s what drew my attention to him," Berry said, noting he is wary of people or vehicles on interstate overpasses because vandals once threw a rock off an overpass at his car.

A white, middle-aged man with a medium build exited the car and walked to the rail of the overpass, Berry said, noting he heard the shot shortly before he traveled beneath the bridge.

Berry did not know if his car had been struck, but stopped on the berm six-tenths of a mile northeast of the overpass, found a bullet hole in the hood and called police.

"Even with the radio up loud, I could hear the shot. It was large caliber. This wasn’t a .22 (caliber), a .25 (caliber) or even a .32 (caliber), this was big," Berry said as traffic whizzed by on I-71.

Berry said he was familiar with the sniper case and had avoided driving on I-270 in southern Franklin County when in the Columbus area. But he was unaware the shooter was stalking traffic farther south.

Authorities received additional information from a motorist who called 911 and told a Fayette County sheriff’s dispatcher about a suspicious man standing on an overpass. The caller was unable to describe the person but said he was standing beside "a little black sports car."

State troopers stopped a vehicle shortly after the shootings and detained two occupants before determining they weren’t involved, Martin said.

Traffic backed up for miles on I-71 yesterday as the State Highway Patrol closed one lane beneath the Prairie Road overpass to search for evidence. Police also searched around the Rt. 41 and Brock Road overpasses.

The shootings occurred 8 miles north of Washington Court House, the home of the only person killed by the sniper. Gail Knisley, 62, died Nov. 25 when a bullet penetrated the car she was riding in on I-270 near Grove City.

Investigators think the sniper struck again that day. A pickup truck driven by an Orient, Ohio, man was struck by gunfire on the south Outerbelt about four hours after Knisley was shot. The driver of a truck hauling Coca-Cola found a bullet hole in his truck that day after driving on I-71 and the south Outerbelt.