Posted on 10/07/2002 2:21:22 PM PDT by caa26
BOWIE, Md. — Police say ballistic evidence they have recovered from a 13-year-old boy shot in front of his school in Bowie, Md., Monday links the shooting to several in the Washington area.
Evidence recovered from the teen has been linked to the other shootings in the Washington area, Prince George's County Police Chief Gerald Wilson said today.
The boy, who sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest, was in critical but stable condition following almost three hours of surgery at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and doctors said they were "satisfied" with how he got through the operation.
The victims in last week's shootings -- six people killed and one wounded -- also were felled by a single shot.
Dr. Martin Eichelberger said the boy had a gunshot wound to the abdomen, which went through his chest, then into his spleen, stomach, pancreas and lung.
He said the boy's spleen was removed along with part of his stomach and pancreas, but he says those are organs a person can "live without."
Eichelberger said the major concerns now for doctors are whether the boy continues to bleed, and whether he has problems breathing. He said the next eight hours are crucial to determine the boy's recovery.
The doctor said the surgery team made a special effort to find a portion of the bullet, which they gave to police.
FNC Monday's shooting happened well before classes were scheduled to begin, so there were not a lot of witnesses, Wilson said. A gunshot was heard, and the boy slumped over and told his aunt, who had brought him to school, that he thought he had been shot, Wilson said.
His aunt took him to a small hospital in this suburb northeast of Washington, and then he was transferred by helicopter to Children's Hospital.
Police cars surrounded the school and officers put up crime scene tape and searched the campus.
Sharon Healy had just sent her 12-year-old son, Brandon, to school on his bicycle when she heard of the shooting shortly after 8 a.m. outside Benjamin Tasker Middle School. She said she ran there and pulled him out of class.
"You think you're safe, but you're only as safe as your next step," Healy said.
Said her son: "I was scared."
Othar Haskins, 13, standing outside the school with his mother, said he was a friend of the wounded boy.
"He's funny, he's always around friends," Othar said. "He helps you out when you need it. He's a good friend." Othar cried and put his head on his mother's shoulder as he spoke.
AP Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose Last Wednesday and Thursday, five people were shot to death by a sniper in a 16-hour span in Montgomery County. A sixth victim was killed Thursday in Washington, D.C. On Friday, a woman was shot and wounded in Virginia.
"All of our victims have been innocent and defenseless, but now we're stepping over the line," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said. "Shooting a kid -- it's getting to be really, really personal now." At one point, tears streamed down his face.
In an afternoon briefing, Moose said police were investigating yet another shooting in Washington.
But Washington police spokesman Kenny Bryson said the shooting occurred in an apparent robbery and there's "no link whatsoever" to the sniper attacks.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said federal authorities -- the attorney general, Treasury Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- have been "very involved on the ground and have lent support and equipment."
Asked if there was any evidence of terrorism, Fleischer replied: "I've not heard anything like that, but the fact of the matter is that people are trying to determine who the shooter is, or shooters are, and we continue to help local officials in that endeavor."
Montgomery schools had planned a normal schedule with extra security, but after the Prince George's shooting, officials initiated a "code blue" alert, keeping students inside during recess and lunchtime, Moose said. Prince George's schools and some other schools in the region took similar steps.
The five Montgomery County victims were all gunned down in public places: two at gas stations, one outside a grocery, another outside a post office, another as he mowed the grass at an auto dealership, and the sixth, a 72-year-old man, killed on a Washington street corner. Each victim was shot once from a distance. There were no known witnesses.
Tests confirmed that the same weapon was used to kill four victims.
Ballistics evidence also linked the Maryland slayings with the wounding of a 43-year-old woman on Friday. She was shot in the back in a parking lot at a Michaels craft store in Fredericksburg, Va., and was in fair condition Monday at INOVA Fairfax Hospital.
As I've said elsewhere, so far the Maryland shootings have happened during rush hour in very dense and busy suburban locales. Knowing both areas (I grew up around the PG/Montgomery area), I cannot fathom how the shooter would be able to casually shoot someone with a rifle and to have no witnesses whatsoever, and no supicious sightings of any kind.
So it seems plausible that a familiy minivan is being used, perhaps with blacked out windows, and operated by a pair of perps.
They pull up within range of the target, open the sliding door on the van, pop a round, close the door and take off. The only special equipment they need is earplugs.
We roughly know their direction travel for the Thursday shootings. I wonder if the targets were all on the right side of the road (relative to that direction of travel), same as the sliding door on a minivan.
Andrew Cunanan
I live in that small South Jersey town where Cunanan killed the caretaker...that weekend after he was here had to be the scarest ever......we didn't know if he left the area or not.
They may even be sleeping in it in a State Park or something.
Sac
Evil certainly. Insane no. Schizophrenics and others suffering from psychosis generally aren't rational enough to formulate the planning required to get away with these types of crimes.
In otherwords people who have lost touch with reality aren't usually capable of these types of crimes.
That might be a tough assignment working the way the shooters do. They seem to be identifying by appearance, which wouldn't make religious or even Arabic affiliation obvious since everyone dresses about the same.
For their sake I hope not. But if it turns out to be so, the moderate Moose Limbs should want to start speaking up against this kind of thing rather than continue their almost unanimous silence. Still nothing more than speculation at this time.
I dunno. M193 yaws and fragments even when fired through 1x9 or 1x7. It does break up better with a cannelure, which most civi factory 55gr loadings don't have. But thinly-jacketed varmint bullets (BlitzKing, V-Max, even Federal 50gr HP) are pretty explosive. The shooter's made hits at a variety of distances; it seems like most of the earlier shootings produced exit wounds, indicating a shorter range (head shot of woman on bench, coffee-cup sized exit hole on lawn-mower victim, blood splatter on mini-van at gas station). The shooting today was likely from longer range, judging by layout of school and fact that there was no exit wound.
5.45x39 is cheap, but not nearly as ubiquitous as .223. Also, only rifles chambered for it (that are readily available in this country) are Romanian AK clones. Not what I'd use for precision shooting.
The 5.45x39 is a very distinctive projectile, I think if they are saying .223 it probably is.
I would guess one of the very light projectiles from sierra or speer. I know one of those 2 will tumble if it hits bone.
That's a good point. If you see a guy driving in an adjacent vehicle, wearing earplugs or earmuff-style hearing protectors, watch out! and report it to the police, if you're up in that area.
I wonder if the targets were all on the right side of the road (relative to that direction of travel), same as the sliding door on a minivan.
Lots of mini-vans have sliding doors on both sides these days.
If the authorities can get him/them GREAT, but Flight 93 should have taught us that it is sometimes better to take matters into our own hands. If anyone sees them DO SOMETHING ... DO ANYTHING .... BUT DON'T DO NOTHING! The reports say they heard a shot, at least the weapon was not totally silenced or suppressed. I hope people take action next time and quit waiting for the "authorities" to solve it.
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