Posted on 12/04/2003 8:25:50 PM PST by TexKat
COLUMBUS, Ohio - In one of 12 linked shootings on Ohio highways, an Akron couple reported that one of several juveniles on an overpass had a gun and shot at a horse trailer they were towing, a State Highway Patrol report said.
The couple did not report the Aug. 31 trailer damage until three days after the Nov. 25 shooting that killed a woman on Interstate 270.
Franklin County sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said Thursday that investigators have not discounted the couple's report, but there is no indication that juveniles are responsible for any of the other shootings.
Ballistics tests have definitively linked four of the 12 shootings — three at vehicles and one at an elementary school — but investigators believe they all are connected.
The shootings took place on or near the same short stretch of I-270 south of Columbus; the woman who was killed, Gail Knisley, was the only person hit.
A bullet from the trailer did not come from the same gun as the four, but the report is included with the 12 because it came from the area police are investigating, Martin said.
A sheriff's report on the damage said it happened on I-270, but Patrol Sgt. Rick Zwayer said the couple was not sure where they were driving and a witness said they were on a different highway.
Since authorities began connecting the shootings, there has been one more reported in the area, police told The Columbus Dispatch for its Thursday editions. A woman reported Tuesday that a bullet hit her car Sunday.
"It appeared to be a bullet strike, but the bullet did not penetrate," Columbus homicide detective Wayne Goss said.
Authorities would not confirm the report Thursday. Martin said no shooting since Knisley's killing has been linked to the string of shootings that began in May but have occurred mostly in the last two months.
Ohio is a crossroads for truck traffic, and the American Trucking Associations sent an alert to drivers this week to report anything out of the ordinary to a toll-free number that links them with law enforcement.
Truck driver Lance Weaver said he has started watching fences along the highway for any movement as he hauls steel, lumber, military equipment and other cargo around the Midwest.
"You're looking, when normally, you wouldn't even think about it," said Weaver, 25.
A truck driver was credited along with another man with tipping police to the location of suspects in the Washington-area sniper shootings.
"We have about 30,000 members who can act as eyes and ears on the road," trucking association spokesman John Willard said.
The Columbus shootings took place near an interchange of two highways that see 77,000 vehicles a day on average.
"Ohio's one of the top states in terms of all traffic, not just truck traffic," said Dave Bartosic, spokesman for the Ohio Trucking Association. "You have to go through here to go just about anywhere."
Trucks carrying hazardous materials use I-270, which rings the city, because they are prohibited from bringing their loads through downtown Columbus.
"Guys are nervous," said Weaver, who has been driving professionally for about six years. "Most are thinking, 'Anything like that couldn't happen to me.' But it's in the back of your mind, where's he at right now? If someone's on the rampage, he could be anywhere."
Authorities investigating the highway shootings say they're relying heavily on tips from the public — they have received more than 885 since the shootings. The alert to truckers has helped, Martin said.
"That is a very viable source, and we're glad that they did that," he said.
Especially since they claim the teenagers were shooting at a horsetrailer that they were towing.
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