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Witness may have given fake story about shooter, van, weapon
Associated Press

Posted on 10/17/2002 12:52:05 PM PDT by RCW2001

STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, October 17, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/10/17/national1512EDT0714.DTL

(10-17) 12:28 PDT (AP) --

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- A witness who described the Washington sniper, his cream-colored van and his assault weapon may have given a phony story, police said Thursday in a setback for investigators trying to catch the roving killer.

The announcement cast doubt on much of what the public thought it knew about the gunman who has terrorized the region for the past two weeks.

Fairfax County police Lt. Amy Lubas said the inaccurate account was exposed by checking it against that of several other witnesses.

Asked if the witness may have intentionally misled investigators, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation, at first said: "I'm moving forward." When asked the question again, Moose simply said, "Yes."

Lubas said police and state prosecutors are investigating to determine whether the witness should be charged.

Investigators had showed a certain optimism after the latest attack seemed to yield the best details yet about the killer. The killing of an FBI cyberterrorism analyst Monday night in a crowded Virginia parking lot was the only slaying so far in which people actually saw the shooting.

But Moose said there was no credence to the chief witness' description of the cream-colored van. And while he did not give the witness' exact description of the shooter, he chastised reporters for running reports that variously described the gunman as dark-skinned, olive-skinned, Middle Eastern or Hispanic.

"When we have people from the media interviewing witnesses and publishing reports, we get confusion," Moose said. "We get this noise ... out there that gives people tunnel vision and makes them focus in on things that are not appropriate. ... We would like to be able to do our job."

Moose said the witness' emphatic description of the shooter's AK-74 is also bogus. But investigators cautioned that they still believe the sniper is using one of a family of more than 30 similar assault-type weapons capable of firing a .223-caliber bullet.

"The message we're trying to say is please keep an open mind," Moose said. "People saw a description of a weapon over the last day and a half and we're convinced they eliminated people they know because they say, `Their gun is not the weapon I saw in the paper."'

Moose said the disclosure of the fake story, coming a day after investigators said they were unable to draw a composite sketch, was hardly a setback. He said investigators were still chasing leads and he stood by previous composite drawings of vehicles witnesses reported seeing leaving the attacks: a white box truck and a Chevrolet Astro van or Ford Econoline van.

Since Oct. 2, there have been 11 shootings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., that have left nine people dead and two wounded. One of the wounded, a 13-year-old boy shot outside his school in Bowie, Md., was upgraded Thursday from critical to serious condition. The other wounded person, a woman in Virginia, was released from a hospital last week.

The victims were men and women of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds, each hit with a single bullet while going about everyday activities. A tarot death card left at one scene was inscribed: "Dear Policeman, I am God."

Law enforcement sources said the investigation by federal, state and local authorities has led to information about a number of people with high-powered guns, both legally and illegally owned.

A firearms safety instructor said the FBI has been asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting.

"They're looking for suspects," said Mike Heffernan, owner of Self Defense Technologies in Kensington. "They're looking at people who have a background in firearms, possess .223 weapons, and have the capability of using them."


On the Net:

Montgomery County police: www.co.mo.md.us

FBI: www.fbi.gov

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: www.atf.treas.gov

©2002 Associated Press  


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
More likely he's just one of those nuts who'll do anything to get attention and feel important for a while. Like the loonies who confess to high-profile crimes they didn't commit. He needs to be dealt with harshly and publicly.
21 posted on 10/17/2002 1:21:54 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: ChuteTheMall GawdSortaMount
"asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting"

That'll do it -- picture the perp dutifully showing up at police headquarters with his .223-caliber gun and a deck of Tarot cards....driving a white van with a ladder rack.

This case is close to being solved, yes indeed.

23 posted on 10/17/2002 1:23:57 PM PDT by browardchad
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To: texasbluebell
Doubtful. The perp(s) is extremely skilled and thorough. This guy's story was seriously questioned by a number of freepers within an hour or so of its publication, and completely dismissed by police within two days. He's just a random incompetent jerk.
24 posted on 10/17/2002 1:24:41 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: RCW2001
A firearms safety instructor said the FBI has been asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting.

-------------------------

Right. Like a terrorist is going to walk in, give his name and address, then have his weapon fingerprinted before he mounts an attack. So how long has the FBI been hiring the mentally handicapped as part of a community reach-out program to the neurologically disenfranchized?

25 posted on 10/17/2002 1:25:35 PM PDT by RLK
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To: RCW2001
Drag 5,000 hundred dollar bills through a trailer park and there's not telling what you'll turn up.
26 posted on 10/17/2002 1:26:13 PM PDT by TC Rider
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To: GovernmentShrinker
More likely he's just one of those nuts who'll do anything to get attention and feel important for a while.

Like Jesse Jackson did after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, right?

27 posted on 10/17/2002 1:26:57 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: FreeTally
Any witness information will not be credible UNTIL the authorities can pin this on a white guy. Message to all white guys driving white vans: better have an airtight alibi because the authorities are looking for YOU.
28 posted on 10/17/2002 1:27:29 PM PDT by EverOnward
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To: Britton J Wingfield
Whoa...

Welcome to the machine, Comrade. What a lesson in democracy...

29 posted on 10/17/2002 1:29:08 PM PDT by Thommas
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To: bert; Alberta's Child
That didn't happen to me, but to another member of thefiringline.com bulletin board. I would have put on my 'obstructionist @sshole' hat mere seconds into the conversation.

30 posted on 10/17/2002 1:29:26 PM PDT by Britton J Wingfield
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To: RCW2001
the witness is the perp - he knew he couldn't get away this time so he stashed his weapon and then hung around to give misleading information /tin foil hat off

please ignore me - i'm clueless

31 posted on 10/17/2002 1:29:50 PM PDT by Frapster
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To: Britton J Wingfield
Sounds like this cop has a huge ego problem (alot of them do). It sucks but you have to be nice and cooperate with these guys even though they may piss you off. You already got on the wrong foot when you had that tone on the first phone call. Even though you apologized he must have been fuming and festering the whole time before you called back. He was going to give you a hard time whether you apologized or not. But I think you handled it well and don't worry I think he was scaring you just to see you squirm. I really doubt he would have sent anyone - er - maybe the SWAT TEAM!! ;-).
32 posted on 10/17/2002 1:31:27 PM PDT by areafiftyone
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To: GovernmentShrinker
He's just a random incompetent jerk.

Either that, or he was right on target and the police are now relaying info to cloud the issue to prevent panic. To prevent an outbreak of anti-arab hysterics, etc.

33 posted on 10/17/2002 1:33:10 PM PDT by Republic
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To: Britton J Wingfield
Your experience illustrates clearly that the authorities will not rest until this entire episode is blamed on a white male. Scary -- very scary.
34 posted on 10/17/2002 1:33:20 PM PDT by EverOnward
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To: GovernmentShrinker
This guy's story was seriously questioned by a number of freepers within an hour or so of its publication, and completely dismissed by police within two days. He's just a random incompetent jerk.

You must mean the guy who was on Greta's show, I suppose it was Tuesday night. He just didn't seem right to me either; he didn't seem serious at all, and was grinning strangely, too much for seeing a brutal crime like that.

And his name wasn't broadcast, I noticed, in the crawl, at least I didn't spot it, but others had said that this area has many Iranians in it, which is what I was suspecting he was. He was the one who said it was a white guy shooting, IIRC.

35 posted on 10/17/2002 1:35:57 PM PDT by texasbluebell
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To: Britton J Wingfield
Dude, I hope you have a good lawyer that you won't need to help you get your firearms back.
36 posted on 10/17/2002 1:38:19 PM PDT by babaloo999
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To: mr. mojo risin
Haven't seen this level of confusion and dis-information since Vince Foster and the Keystone Cops, er DC police...

Sure you have. Chandra Levy.
37 posted on 10/17/2002 1:39:56 PM PDT by aBootes
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To: RCW2001
To Repeat:

I missed the news conference..When this was announced, did any of the stellar reporters ask what is being done to this false witness, because I would be frying his ass to the greatest extent possible to make an example of him for anyone in the future who may entertain the idea of drwing BIG attention to him/herself at the expense of this investigation.
38 posted on 10/17/2002 1:40:29 PM PDT by Merovingian
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To: Britton J Wingfield
Yikes! Time for you to move to another location.
39 posted on 10/17/2002 1:45:22 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: ChuteTheMall GawdSortaMount
Ahhhhh, yes... The sniper will bring in his gun, and we will have him!

If they really thought this guys story was false, they would have pressed charges on him by now for filing a false report.

More CYA on the governments part. I think they were spooked by the story earlier that concealed carry requests had skyrocketed in the immediate area, and gun purchases had gone up 500 percent. They're afraid of widespread vigilante craziness against muslims.

40 posted on 10/17/2002 1:49:46 PM PDT by TheLurkerX
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