Posted on 10/15/2002 1:40:44 PM PDT by Scalia Rules
Sniper Attack Yields Detailed Clues Tue Oct 15, 3:46 PM ET By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - An FBI (news - web sites) analyst who assessed terrorist threats was identified Tuesday as the ninth person killed by the Washington-area sniper, shot in the head in an attack investigators say has yielded the most detailed clues yet in the hunt for the gunman.
For the first time, witnesses were able to give information about license plates on vehicles seen fleeing the scene, including a light-colored Chevrolet Astro van with a burned-out rear taillight.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another witness gave a description of a dark-skinned, possibly Hispanic or Middle Eastern, man in a white van.
"There was some additional information that we were able to get from last night's case, and I am confident that that information is going to lead us to an arrest in the case," Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger said.
Law enforcement sources said there were no indications the sniper targeted 47-year-old Linda Franklin because of her job. She worked for the FBI's Cyber-Crimes Division, created last year to focus on computer crimes as well as intellectual property cases.
Montgomery County (Md.) Police Chief Charles Moose, the head of the investigation, emphasized that Franklin was not working on the sniper case.
Franklin, a 47-year-old mother of two grown children, was killed Monday night as she and her husband loaded packages into their convertible in the parking lot outside a Home Depot at the Seven Corners Shopping Center. Ballistics evidence Tuesday connected the sniper to the slaying.
"Linda was a dedicated employee, and she will be missed," said FBI Director Robert Muller. "All of us are deeply shocked and angry over this tragedy."
An FBI chaplain at Franklin's Arlington home said Franklin and her husband were planning to move Friday to another home in the area and were at Home Depot to buy supplies for the move and the new house.
Robert Young, a Washington construction worker, returned to the shopping center Tuesday to talk with police. He said he heard a muffled gunshot and saw a white van.
Young said as he backed his truck out of his parking spot, a white Astro van with two men inside tried to turn into his lane. He said the driver appeared very agitated to find his way blocked and instead drove by a neighboring Chinese restaurant and out of sight.
Young described the driver as a short man of slight build who appeared to be Mideastern. He said, "I got a good look at the guy."
The driver "seemed to be excessively irritated because he couldn't pull into my lane," he said. "I thought this fool was going to want to get out of the van and duke or something. But he didn't. He kept on going."
Since Oct. 2, nine people have been killed and two others wounded, all of them cut down by a single bullet fired from a distance with a high-powered rifle as the victims went about their everyday tasks. The sniper's only apparent communication with investigators has been a tarot death card inscribed, "Dear Policeman, I am God."
In a continuing appeal for the public's help, Moose released composite images of a white van with roof racks that witnesses saw after Friday's slaying of a man at a gas station near Fredericksburg, Va.
Moose said there appeared to be similarities between the van seen at Friday's shooting and the light-colored van from Monday night's attack.
Manger would not say whether the witnesses to the latest attack were able to give complete license plate numbers to investigators.
"Each shooting has revealed more to this investigation. We're encouraged every day," said Michael Bouchard, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent.
The sniper escaped a huge dragnet that closed down a tangle of highways around Falls Church, 10 miles west of the nation's capital. Traffic was backed up for miles as police surrounded and searched dozens of white vans.
Tod Burke, a former Maryland police officer who teaches criminal justice at Radford University in Virginia, said the killer is either escaping before the dragnet comes does or has some kind of hideout where he can watch the chaos that erupts.
Outside the Home Depot, shoppers tentatively returned while officers made a last sweep for evidence and towed the victim's car away.
"Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place," Lorraine Burns said as she walked up to a Barnes and Noble bookstore.
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you're absolutely correct. Everyone knows that people look darker next to white vehicles--so obviously, the perp is white. /more sarcasm
That very senerio was suggested today on talk radio.
Because ther are so many white vans and white delivery trucks the shooter(s) simply wait(s) until one of these vechicles is about to leave an area then he(they) act.
Would explain the white, cream, astro van, delivery truck's triple personality.
Yes, and I identified them as trademarked with the ™ symbol...
Ever hear of the Empire State Building, Ms. Burns? It has been struck MULTIPLE times during the same storm. Then there is the Shenandoah Park Ranger (Sullivan?) who was PERSONALLY struck by lightning seven times. (Thank G-d; NOT during the same storm.) Are you a blond, Ms. Burns? Just curious...
Many years ago, I often wore dressy kid gloves. They were meant to fit as a second skin. There is no way I could have gotten any of my own gloves on over a pair of plastic gloves. When I saw that I knew the prosecutors were stupid. Why didn't they consult a glove expert before trying their doomed-to-fail trick?
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