Posted on 10/23/2002 2:30:46 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Sniper Threatens Children, Demands Millions Updated 4:51 AM ET October 23, 2002
By JoAnne Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time." Parents in and around the U.S. capital readied their children for school Wednesday under that chilling threat from a sniper blamed for nine deaths -- and possibly a tenth -- in the past three weeks, reportedly in a scheme to make money.
Police were still working to confirm whether the shooting death of a bus driver in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Tuesday was the work of the gunman, whose murderous spree has terrorized the Washington region since Oct. 2.
Three other people have been shot and critically wounded.
The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported on Wednesday that a message to police from the sniper demanded that authorities put $10 million in a bank account within two days or face more killings.
The angry letter, left at the scene of a shooting on Saturday night in Ashland, Virginia, about 85 miles south of Washington, berated police as incompetent and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been "ignored," the newspaper reported.
The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday that the sniper had left a second demanding letter for authorities near the place where the bus driver was fatally shot.
It said police found the letter at 1 p.m. Tuesday, several hours after the most recent shooting, in a park near the scene and that it repeated demands made in the first letter.
The first included the threat to the children, Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose said at a news conference. "It is in the form of a postscript: 'Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time,"' he said.
LETTERS AND RESPONSES
In an apparent response to the letter, Moose sent a televised message to the sniper indicating that police had been considering his requests.
"We have researched the options you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested," Moose said.
"You indicated that this is about more than violence. We are waiting to hear from you," Moose said, adding that it was important to "do this without anyone else getting hurt."
Moose indicated that police wanted to continue the dialogue and said the person could communicate through a private post office box "if you would feel more comfortable."
In the latest shooting, Montgomery County bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was felled by single bullet around 6 a.m., as he was about to begin his work day.
The first five killings also took place in Montgomery County, an affluent and usually tranquil suburban area just north of Washington. One occurred inside Washington, close to the Montgomery County border. Three people have been killed in Washington's Virginia suburbs.
A 13-year-old boy was wounded in Prince Georges County, Maryland, east of the U.S. capital. A 43-year-old woman was wounded in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and a 37-year-old man was wounded in the Ashland shooting on Saturday, the last attack definitively linked to the sniper.
"Everyone knows that all of our citizens are and have been at risk," Moose said. "The person or people have demonstrated a willingness and ability to shoot people of all ages, all races, all genders and they've struck at different times of the day, different days at different locations."
The shooting spree has paralyzed the region. Schools have canceled sports events and other outdoor activities and kept hundreds of thousands of students indoors during school hours. The schools were in a high state of alert, with volunteer parents helping to patrol school grounds.
Business has been slowed by public reluctance to venture from home. Most of the shootings have been at shopping areas or gasoline stations.
I don't get it. Maybe someone with some banking industry experience can explain how the Sniper could supply police a bank account number without supplying them with a clue to his identity? Banking secrecy laws in offshore havens?
under that chilling threat from a sniper blamed for nine deaths -- and possibly a tenth -- in the past three weeks, reportedly in a scheme to make money.
a message to police from the sniper demanded that authorities put $10 million in a bank account within two days or face more killings.
The sniper is Governor Gray Davis. Has to be.
If it hasn't been suggested before, the shot at the bus driver suggests to me that it was practice for shooting at school kids getting on or off the bus.
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.