Very nice shooting...
Sniper Sought in Md. Shootings
By STEPHEN MANNING
Associated Press Writer
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP)--Scores of law
enforcement officers searched suburban
Maryland on Friday for a sniper they believe
randomly targeted five people, killing each
with a single shot. Investigators were also
trying to determine if another fatal shooting,
in nearby Washington, was related.
Tests on the bullets and wounds indicated all
five Maryland victims were hit from a distance,
likely with .223-caliber bullets from
an assault or hunting rifle, Montgomery County
Police Chief Charles Moose said.
The Washington victim, a 72-year-old pedestrian,
was shot once in the chest
Thursday night as he stood at a street corner. It
wasn't immediately clear if the
deaths were related.
Washington police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said
``there is nothing at this
point to indicate a connection. However, obviously
we will take a close, hard look
as to whether they are related.''
The FBI, meanwhile, was expected to provide
investigators with a profile of the
shooter, or shooters, by the end of the day, Moose
said.
Schools opened Friday with extra patrols and calls
poured into 911 dispatchers
about loud noises.
``People are on edge,'' Moose said. ``We're all
human. We're all afraid.''
There were no known witnesses to the shootings even
though they happened in
daylight in public places. All the Montgomery
County victims died within five miles
of one another during a 16-hour span Wednesday
night and Thursday.
At a gas station, a taxi driver slumped, bleeding,
onto a minivan. A landscaper
mowing the lawn at a car dealership stumbled and
fell. A woman at a post office
collapsed on a bench. Another victim was vacuuming
out her vehicle, and the fifth
was in a parking lot.
Moose said the slayings had not definitely been
linked but it was a strong
possibility. None of the victims appeared to have
been robbed, and police said
race did not appear to be a motive. The victims
were Hispanic and white; one was
a native of India.
``There's still no information to lead us to think
our victims are associated,'' Moose
said. ``They don't appear to be anyone's enemies,
just random targets.''
Friday morning, police searched for white trucks
and vans in the area after reports
that a white box truck was seen speeding away from
one of the scenes. It was
unclear whether the shots were fired from a vehicle
or at what range. No stolen
vehicles were reported, police said.
``We do have someone that so far has been very
accurate in what they are
attempting to do, and so we probably have a skilled
shooter,'' Moose said.
Gov. Parris Glendening committed 140 state
troopers, a helicopter and whatever
additional aid is needed, a spokesman said. The
FBI, Secret Service, and ATF
also were involved.
Officers were following more than 150 leads, Moose
said, and they collected
security camera videos from businesses near the
shooting scenes, including two
grocery stores. He said authorities were reviewing
a surveillance tape from one of
the scenes, declining to release details except to
say ``it has been helpful.''
Authorities also set up a tip hot line and offered
a reward of up to $50,000 for
information leading to the arrest and indictment of
the suspect or suspects.
The killings began Wednesday evening. Around 6
p.m., James D. Martin, 55, of
Silver Spring, a program analyst for the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, was shot in the parking lot of a
Wheaton grocery store.
Around 7:45 a.m. Thursday, James L. ``Sonny''
Buchanan, 39, of Arlington, Va.,
was killed while cutting grass at a car dealership
in the White Flint area. He
stumbled toward the building before collapsing as
dozens of employees ran toward
him.
``I just put my hand on his shoulder and said,
'Help is on the way,''' service director
Al Briggs told The Washington Post. ``But he was
already gone.''
Prenkumar Walekar, 54, of Olney was shot about 8:15
a.m., while pumping gas
into his cab at a station in the Aspen Hill area.
About a half-hour later, Sarah Ramos, 34, of Silver
Spring died at a post office
next to a retirement community in Silver Spring.
Dolores Wallgren said she saw Ramos slumped over on
a bench, bleeding from
the head, when she arrived to go to a beauty shop
nearby.
``She was sitting on the bench, just sitting
there,'' Wallgren said.
In the fifth shooting, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25,
of Silver Spring was killed about 10
a.m. at a gas station in Kensington. Mechanics said
they heard the shot but didn't
see who shot Lewis-Rivera, who was vacuuming her
van.
The man killed in northwest Washington was
identified as Pascal Charlot, 72.
Schools were open Friday, but Carin Saez, 27,
retrieved her 12-year-old niece,
Kiarra Middleton, less than an hour into the school
day after deciding it was too
dangerous for her to be there. She didn't plan to
let her own children return until
the killer was caught.
``I was petrified to even go to the store last
night,'' Saez said. ``My kids were
scared. They didn't even want to go outside.
They're more scared now than on
September 11.''
The five killings brought the number of homicides
in Montgomery County to 25 this
year, the most since 1997.
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