Posted on 10/05/2002 6:15:53 AM PDT by SLB
ROCKVILLE, Md.- A series of six fatal sniper shootings has shaken the Washington, D.C., suburbs, even as officials urge wary residents to go about their normal business.
But law enforcement authorities are worried.
"My level of concern about the ability of the suspect to strike again is high," said Charles Moose, the Montgomery County police chief, late Friday. "This brings us to a higher degree of recklessness by this suspect or suspects."
"We implore him to surrender, stop this madness," Moose said.
On Friday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said testing showed the same high-powered rifle had been used to kill at least four of six shooting victims. Five victims were shot in Maryland; one was gunned down in Washington, D.C.
The sixth victim, a 72-year-old Washington, D.C., pedestrian, was killed by the same weapon used to kill at least three of the Maryland victims, said Special Agent Michael Bouchard.
"The four shootings were done with the same firearm," he said, adding that forensic testing was still under way in the two other Maryland fatal shootings.
Bouchard also said ATF agents would examine evidence collected from the scene of a shooting Friday outside a crafts store in Fredericksburg, Va., 55 miles south of Rockville to see if it was related. A woman was shot in the back, but survived the attack.
Police were looking for two men in a white van with dark lettering, a description that came from a witness to one of the killings. Police pulled over white vans Friday and plastered orange stickers on the back to show the vehicles had been checked. Moose said investigators were chasing more than 500 leads.
Each Maryland victim was felled by a single bullet. Police said evidence indicated the killer was some distance away and used .223-caliber bullets.
The search went on amid a mix of fear and defiance among residents of the economically and culturally diverse slice of the suburban county where the shootings occurred.
Meanwhile, all over Montgomery County, people appeared to carry on with business as usual - though with a lot more caution. Many said they were afraid but wouldn't stop getting groceries, going to work or leaving their children with a baby sitter.
"I had to shop. I need to eat. I can't stay at home all day," said Kira Leonova, who works at a bookstore near one of the slaying scenes. "I have to work and I have a family."
Dexter Evans, 20, scanned the traffic as he waited for a bus to Rockville, and he took a second look at every white truck. "You can't even walk down the street without looking over your shoulder," he said.
Schools opened with extra police patrols and calls poured into 911 dispatchers about suspicious noises.
Five of the victims died within five miles of one another during a 16-hour span between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. All were gunned down in broad daylight in very public places: two at gas stations, one outside a grocery, another outside a post office and the fifth as he mowed the grass at an auto dealership.
"There's still no information to lead us to think our victims are associated," Moose said. "They don't appear to be anyone's enemies, just random targets."
Carin Saez, 27, found herself going back to school Friday to pick up her 12-year-old niece, deciding it was too dangerous. Saez said she would not let her own children go back to school until the killer was caught.
"I was petrified to even go to the store last night," Saez said. "My kids were scared. They didn't even want to go outside. They're more scared now than on September 11."
Officials at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville canceled a Friday night pep rally and police were posted at the football game against rival Wooten High. Dani Young, a 17-year-old senior, said: "It kind of ruins the mood of homecoming."
In Bethesda, Mary Patterson said as she leaving home for a hair appointment: "I'm not afraid. After all, I'm 81 years old - my time could be anytime."
Sounds like a dandy choice, and if it wiorks for you, swell. My kid favours the .303 #1 Mk III S.M.L.E. I gave him for his twelvth birthday, but the #5 carbine is admittedly handy, and I have a ladyfriend who favours hers. You may find that the Sierra .303 175-grain Match King bullet gives excellent results in your .303, as it does in my own #4MkI*[T] Enfield.
I'm mostly making do with a regular full-length M16A1 and a Remington 870 behind the pickup's folding seat, and a Mauser C96 *broomhandle* pistol with detatchable holster/stock in the motorbike's saddlebag as a *substitute carbine.* Even an M1A1 with folding stock in .30 caliber is a bit too long to fit in the lockable bags, and I don't want to mount one externally. I'd prefer for one to come as a surprise, should I need to haul it out.
Like most such choices, it's a compromise, but it works for me.
-archy-/-
There have been 432 murders in New York this year, and they have three things in common. First, they have nothing in common. Second, they have no motive. and third, they are all unsolved."
Just a flashback from a supposedly simpler time.
Just the opposite, gun control screws will be tightened. You will need an official police sticker visible on your car to transport your rifle to an approved range, good on that day only.
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