Posted on 10/16/2002 6:12:54 AM PDT by MissHardihood
ROCKVILLE, Md. – Police in the Washington suburb where five people were gunned down in two days are looking for two "Hispanic" men in the fatal shootings, according to a police bulletin that federal authorities shared with WorldNetDaily.
Montgomery County Police in press conferences have described only the gender, not the race, of the two suspects – one a driver and the other the shooter.
The be-on-the-lookout, or BOLO, alert that local police sent out earlier today to all law enforcement agencies also described in detail the "white box truck" used by the snipers.
The six-wheeled vehicle resembles a commercial delivery truck, police say. The cab is smaller than, and separate from, the large box-shaped cargo area, which is completely enclosed. The rear passenger side of the bumper has been damaged. And there is block-lettering on the side and rear of the truck.
A Montgomery County Police spokesman confirmed that the BOLO describes the suspects in the sniper slayings as "Hispanic."
But he cautioned that they could be another non-white race.
"We do not count on them being two Hispanic males," said Officer Derek Baliles. "Appearances can be interpreted. We do not want to limit anything at all."
"It's possible," he added, that the suspects could be Middle Eastern.
He also cautioned that their eyewitness account of the suspects is not solid.
Baliles says the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is examining bullet fragments in two other shootings to see if they are connected to the other five, which occurred Wednesday and Thursday.
A 72-year-old man Thursday night was shot to death on a Washington street corner. And a Virginia woman this afternoon was shot in the back at a crafts store. Her condition was not immediately known.
ATF ballistics experts have determined that a high-velocity rifle firing a .223-caliber bullet was used in at least four of the shootings. The bullet is used in AR-15s, M-16s and other rifles, and can make a large wound as it exits the body.
The police spokesman says FBI profilers will put together a "word picture" Saturday morning to try to make sense of the unusual crime and come up with a possible motive.
Authorities are not ruling out terrorism.
Baliles says the Secret Service has assigned at least one agent to the case. The Office of Homeland Security and CIA are not involved, he says.
The shooters took very select shots of random strangers, and appear to be trained in marksmanship. All six victims who died were killed with a single shot, some apparently shot in the head, although Baliles would not confirm that.
Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.
I thought it was strange that the news media has been acting as if the "Hispanic" looking suspects were some NEWLY discovered pieces to the puzzle...when the same story had been reported almost two weeks ago.
True enough there are a lot of immigrants there - mostly refugees from 6 dozen hellholes around the world - and the English is accented, but it's English.
I first moved to the WarshDC area in 1966 and at that time 7-Corners had many more than it's fair share of Eastern and Southern European refugees. That's part of the reason for a big'ol Greek Orthodox church within a quarter mile of that Home Depot.
The area changes, but no one is being driven out, and it is as it has been both sacred ground and a great place for harried refugees for nearly half a century.
BTW, glad you don't bother to stop. Leaves more cha-gio and yucca for me, eh?!
The original colonial road to which I have a permanent easement that VDOT must honor was laid out by George Washington!
I think those other roads were laid out by the US Army, the US Marine Corps, and Benjamin Franklin, particularly the US 1 part.
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