Beltway Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary-Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2002 [Another Shooting?]

Fox News, CNN, Press Releases | October 22, 2002 | Fox News, CNN, Press Releases

[Peach]

Let's keep a live commentary thread gonig again today.

[RandallFlagg]

Same thing. Right?

[Catspaw]

In this situation, I agree with you. Keep the high schoolers in, but cancel grade school classes. If the counties in Virginia cancelled school, they did it for a good reason.

[.30Carbine]

They were just talking about the phone call the sniper made (the jumbled message police cannot understand). It was a 30 second call and it was played through the phone from off a tape recorder.

Was this information *released* to the media or *leaked* to the media? Is LE ready to inform the public?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

A man who was walking his dog in the area tells WTOP he heard what he thought were three gunshots.

"I heard a gunshot. The dog jumped up," the man said. "I heard two more shots."

Montgomery County School spokesman Brian Porter said the situation about the school day is being assessed and there's "nothing to say" at this point, either in regards to the school day or buses that may currently be on the road.

The site of this shooting a short distance from the Michaels craft store where a bullet pierced a window on Oct. 2. No one was injured in that incident, the first shooting attributed to the sniper.

It is also very close to the Mobil gas station where cab driver Prem Kumar Walekar was shot and killed as he filled his cab on Oct. 3.

It is a short distance north on Georgia Avenue is the Leisure World Shopping Center where Sarah Ramos was shot while sitting on a bench, also on Oct. 3.

[Miss Marple]

I agree. Keep the younger kids home. And take some measures to protect the high-schoolers when they are dismissed.

State funding in Indiana is based on per pupil per day, and a loss of a day of scheduled school time results in a loss of state funding. Therefore, the superintendants make every effort to keep schools open in bad storms, a sore point with many parents here.

I wonder if this funding situation is entering into the consideration in Maryland..I hope not.

[livius]

If this is a commuter bus and the driver was shot with the door open, then somebody must have been standing at that bus stop for him to pull up and open the door. An accomplice?

On the other hand, the reports said there was only one other passenger on the bus; unless perhaps she had signalled to get off and he had opened the door for her?

[Mo1]

MSNBC is reporting in a Boston Globe article saying the letter was extremly hostile and demanding a large sum of money

[aristeides]

Three shots would be a departure from the guy's MO. Remember, the initial reports from Bowie were of two shots.

Well, it's daylight now. If he shoots again today, it will be in daylight.

[Miss Marple]

Excellent logic, livius, and a darn good question! There is even the possibility that the passenger was an accomplice.

By the way, why is she being "counseled?"

[aristeides]

WMAL reporter on scene seems unaware that victim was bus driver.

[lizma]

We could make up school days by using snow days.

It's unbelieable that WMAL is broadcasting all the roadblock site!!!!

[Lion's Cub]

I suspect it has more to do with the practical considerations that closing the schools may mean a lot of kids left home alone today.

[.30Carbine]

This article does not make it clear whether all this new info on the note and phone call(s) was *released* or *leaked*. "Sources" are quoted annonomously.

[alrea]

Looks like the psycho wants ransom. Kinda give credence to the fact that this is NOT Middle Eastern terrorism or AQ.

"Muslim rebels holding 21 mostly foreign hostages on the southern Philippine island of Jolo have demanded $1 million in ransom for each captive, a government emissary has reported. The emissary is among several people who have acted as intermediaries between government negotiators and leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group since the abduction of the hostages from a Malaysian island resort on April 23."

[aristeides]

WMAL: fire dept.: victim on bus when shot, not sure if victim was passenger or not, only one trauma.

[RS_Rider]

I see this as happening at a regular bus stop. The killer knows that the bus will stop and be lighted inside. I imagine that the passenger has just been through a very awful experience thus the counseling.

[Catspaw]

I'd bet that the passenger is not being counseled but questioned: what'd you see, what'd you hear, where were you, etc. There may be counselor there, because if it was me, I'd be on the upper range of shock, but the first priority is to question the witness.

[Miss Marple]

Your quote, alrea, reminding me of Abu Sayef and ransom, coupled with the information (how reliable I don't know) that the note was in broken English and hostile, sends me BACK to foreign terrorism.

I am probably going to get whiplash.

[.30Carbine]

By the way, why is she being "counseled?"

That was the wording of the eyewitness I heard on the radio, linked to from Imus in the Morning show. The eyewitness called a newsroom and reported the single female passenger on the bus. It was the eyewitness who said the woman was being "talked to or 'counseled' by the police." I would assume she was being both debriefed and comforted.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Piringer first said the man suffered a "priority one chest wound." He clarified on WTOP that the wound was to the stomach area.