Posted on 12/17/2003 7:31:07 PM PST by Buck72
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- South-Western City Schools are closed Thursday after two buses were found with dents believed to have been caused by gunfire.
NewsChannel 4 reported that the district contacted the serial shootings task force once the buses were discovered with the dents.
Though it is not known if the alleged incidents were related to the serial shootings, the district decided to cancel classes for Thursday. Investigators are expected to inspect the district's nearly 200 school buses Thursday, NewsChannel 4 reported.
The cancellation came hours after serial shooting task force members linked another shooting to the bullet that killed a woman last month.
The bullet was recovered from a home at 901 Brown Rd. Monday after a report of a shot entering the house. The bullet was matched by ballistic evidence Wednesday to the one that killed Gail Knisley, 62, of Washington Court House, while she was riding in a car along Interstate 270.
The bullet entered the home, located across the street from Green Lawn Cemetery, sometime Monday, and was recovered from a second-floor bathtub by investigators the same day.
Franklin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said it is unclear to investigators why the house on Brown Road was targeted.
"What is known is that law enforcement officers assigned to this task force, as well as outside agencies assisting, are determined to do everything possible to bring the person or persons responsible to justice," Martin said.
The home in southwest Franklin County is about six miles from other shootings near the Interstate 270 outerbelt, making a broader area for investigators to look at, NewsChannel 4's Monique Ming Laven reported. This was the third serial shooting to be linked since Nov. 25 -- the day Knisley died.
Neighbors told NewsChannel 4 that they heard three shots fired at about midnight. Two bullet holes were found in the home.
"I heard three shots. Bam! Bam! Bam!" neighbor Charles Hall said. "I pulled the curtain back, looked out and there was a car going south on Brown Road. It was dark. All I could see was tail lights. But it was going pretty fast."
The bullet was linked to 15 other shooting incidents that have occurred near the city's south outerbelt since May. Seven of the bullets have been linked by ballistic evidence, including one that Knisley.
Investigators returned to the home Wednesday afternoon to find the trajectory of the bullet from the road or cemetery to the point it entered the home. Detectives used pink string to show the trajectory from the road to the house.
Martin said increased marked and unmarked officers and patrol cars are being dispatched to the areas. He said law enforcement can't be everywhere, so it is still important for citizens to call in with tips and to keep watch for suspicious activity.
Martin said more than 2,100 leads have been called in to the tip line.
The reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect or suspects in Knisley's death stands at $30,000.
Anyone with information in the shootings should call the shooting tip line at (614) 462-4646.
Watch NewsChannel 4 and refresh nbc4columbus.com for continuing coverage.
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