Just heard about a guy shot at a Sunoco station in Northern Virginia. No other details yet.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002

Answers

Man killed at suburban D.C. gas station Virginia police investigate sniper link

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 Posted: 11:02 PM EDT (0302 GMT)

MANASSAS, Virginia (CNN) -- A man was killed Wednesday night while pumping gas at a gas station here and authorities were investigating whether the incident was connected with the string of sniper shootings that has already claimed six lives in the Washington area.

Dennis Mangan, a detective with the Prince William County Police Department, said the shooting happened at a Sunoco gas station around 8:15 p.m.

Asked whether it was linked to the sniper shootings, Mangan said, "It's too early to tell. We can't really rule it out."

Video of the scene showed an individual slumped between a gas pump and his car in a pool of blood.

Dozens of police were on the scene, and yellow crime scene tape sealed off the area.

Jeff Hintosh, a 19-year-old waiter at a nearby Shoney's, said he and his co-workers heard a single shot and did not see a fleeing vehicle or anything else.

Manassas is a suburb of about 35,000 people, southwest of the nation's capitol.

Police angered by leak

Evidence retrieved from the site of the most recent sniper shooting in the Washington area -- including a Tarot card inscribed with the message, "Dear Policeman: I am God" -- has been taken to an FBI lab for analysis, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

Results from the tests -- looking at DNA, fingerprinting, the origin of the card, handwriting and spelling -- will be of use to FBI profilers, sources said.

The Tarot card and a shell casing were found near a middle school in Bowie, Maryland, where a 13-year-old boy was shot Monday.

Sources said it is unclear whether the Tarot card is related to the shootings. The card represents death in the fortunetelling deck.

Authorities said the card could have been left by a prankster.

The death card, which often shows a skeletal figure on a horse, represents endings, transitions, eliminations and the experiencing of inexorable forces.

Moose said Wednesday he was upset about the leak of the Tarot card information to reporters and said "it is inappropriate to comment on this card."

"There are a lot of things that have the potential to hurt the investigation," Moose said.

Moose also criticized statements from retired law enforcement personnel who are news analysts for TV networks and stations. Moose said it is insulting to hear commentary from "talking heads" who have not been briefed, seen evidence or talked to investigators.

Earlier, police in Prince George's County conducted an aerial search of woods near two schools in Fort Washington, Maryland, on Wednesday after a witness reported seeing a man carrying a long, dark bag. (Area of investigation)

Police said they had interviewed a witness and, based on that, established a perimeter and searched the area.

The bag's description is similar to what residents have said they have seen surveyors carry in the area, a Prince George's police spokeswoman said. The surveyors carry tripods in such bags, police said. Boy critical but stable

The boy, who was shot after his aunt dropped him off at school, remains in critical but stable condition at Children's National Medical Center in Washington.

Authorities are trying to determine whether the shell casing found near the school can help them determine the type of weapon used in the shooting. (Tracing the bullets)

Forensics evidence, including ballistics tests on the bullets, have linked the eight shooting attacks that have occurred since last week. Authorities said each victim was hit once with a .223-caliber bullet fired from a rifle from a relatively long distance.

Montgomery County schools are closed Wednesday for a previously scheduled teacher workday. A heavy police presence monitored schools in Prince George's County.

Investigators -- about 100 from Montgomery County and 95 from other agencies -- are sifting through 1,600 tips and leads deemed credible. They continue to search for a suspicious white van seen by a witness near the scene of one of the shootings. Reward fund growing

The shootings began October 2 when someone fired a shot through a window of a Michaels crafts store in Wheaton, but no one was hit.

Five people were shot and killed in Montgomery County during a 16-hour period from October 2 into Thursday morning. A sixth victim was shot dead Thursday night on a Washington street.

A seventh person was wounded Friday in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was released Tuesday afternoon from Inova Fairfax Hospital, a spokeswoman said. (Trail of the sniper)

Authorities have not identified a suspect, but they said they hope a growing reward fund may help persuade anyone who knows anything about the killings to come forward.

Late Tuesday, the reward stood at nearly $240,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for the killings. The fund includes $100,000 from the state of Maryland, $50,000 from Montgomery County and $10,000 from a victims' rights foundation.

Donations also have been coming in from across the country, said Donna Bigler of the Montgomery County executive's office, which is managing the fund. The county has set up a telephone number for people to call to donate money using credit cards.

"We've had donations from a local law firm, a crime solvers' group in Wisconsin, a couple from Virginia and a businessman in California, giving from $100 to $50,000," Bigler said. Precautions in nation's capital

Investigators also are reconsidering a September 14 shooting outside a Silver Spring, Maryland liquor store, trying to determine whether the same culprit might be responsible. A man was wounded there but survived. Michael Bouchard, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the ballistics evidence from that crime scene was inconclusive.

Authorities also are looking into a fire at a Michaels crafts store near the middle school in Bowie. The crafts store burned down, and the case remains open. Several of the shootings have taken place near Michaels crafts stores.

The fear in Washington's suburbs has spread into the District of Columbia, with Capitol Police implementing "added precautionary measures" in response to the attacks.

A memo sent Monday to "all office emergency coordinators" on Capitol Hill urged people who work and visit the Hill to "exercise an abundance of caution," including "reducing outside activities to the extent possible."

The memo states "there is no indication that a threat is directed toward the Capitol or members of Congress."

The White House called the outbreak of violence "traumatic" and "scary." (Full story)

Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening called the sniper a "coward," and he called on the suspect to "stop this insane killing."

"This is a person who is shooting elderly men, shooting women and now shooting little children," Glendening said at a Tuesday news conference with local and federal law enforcement agencies.

"It is extremely important that he understands that no one is looking up to him, that no one is thinking this is a great act that he's doing. We're all thinking that this is an act of absolute cowardice."

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002

Another report adds:

Virginia State Police said two males were seen driving away in a white vehicle after the shooting at the station in Prince William County, near Manassas, 25 miles west of the nation’s capital.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002

I hope they get em soon.

I also hope that this isn't a copy cat incident.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

This morning on Fox and Friends, I saw one of the police men saying that the vehicle was a white Dodge Carivan.

No info on tags or descriptions of the two men inside, however.

Hope they catch them soon.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

Preliminary results of autopsy suggest it's No. 9.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

Minivan Sought in Sniper Case Thu Oct 10,12:22 PM ET

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) - Police hunting the Washington-area sniper searched Thursday for a white minivan seen leaving the scene of a seventh fatal shooting in the past week.

Police were trying to determine if Wednesday night's slaying at a gas station in northern Virginia was linked to the sniper. Dean Harold Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Md., was gunned down moments after filling his tank.

Two men were seen in a white van shortly after the sniper slayings began eight days ago in the Washington suburbs. The vehicle described by witnesses to Wednesday's shooting was similar — a white "panel truck."

"It's a minivan but instead of windows around the side, it's solid. We don't know about windows in the back," Sgt. Kim Chinn, a Prince William County police spokeswoman, told reporters Thursday. The vehicle was described as looking like a Dodge Caravan, she said.

She stressed that the Virginia killing had not been definitely linked to the eight earlier sniper shootings, six of them fatal, in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia since Oct. 2. Manassas is approximately 30 miles west of the nation's capital and about 40 miles southwest of Bowie, Md., the site of Monday's shooting that wounded a boy outside a school.

"The assurance we can give the community is we are working as hard as we can," Chinn said.

Maryland investigators went to the scene of Wednesday's killing because of similarities with the previous shootings, and Virginia police were sharing information with them.

"We are certainly working the case with that (a possible link) in mind," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said Thursday morning. But at midday, he said investigators still had not established a connection.

Investigators say the sniper, or snipers, fired from a distance with a high-powered hunting or military-style rifle. All the earlier victims had been felled by a single bullet; authorities wouldn't comment Thursday on whether Meyers also was killed that way.

A former neighbor of Meyers, Carol Iverson, described him as "perfectly delightful. ... He always had a kind word." She said they remained close after she moved, and he had visited her home just last week.

Officials announced Thursday they had set up a single tip line for people wanting to report information. That number is 1-888-324-9800.

The 13-year-old schoolboy wounded in Bowie on Monday remained in critical but stable condition Thursday. A woman wounded in Fredericksburg, Va., last week was released from the hospital Tuesday.

A tarot card with the words "Dear policeman, I am God" was found near a .223-caliber shell casing outside the school in Bowie, a source familiar with the investigation said on the condition of anonymity.

Moose wouldn't comment Wednesday when asked about the tarot card, and angrily suggested unapproved information had been leaked.

"I need to make sure I don't do anything to hinder our ability to bring this person or these people into custody," Moose said.

The "I am God" message left on the tarot card called the Death card was first reported by WUSA-TV and then by The Washington Post. Police sources told the newspaper the items were found 150 yards from the school in a wooded area on matted grass, suggesting the gunman had lain in wait.

The Post on Thursday reported that the tarot card also contained a handwritten request from the sniper that it not be revealed to the media. Some detectives had hoped that if they honored the request, the sniper might communicate with investigators again, the newspaper quoted sources as saying.

Tarot cards, used mainly for fortunetelling, are believed to have been introduced into western Europe by Gypsies in the 15th century. Many tarot enthusiasts say the Death card usually does not connote physical death, but instead portrays a symbolic change or transformation.

Crime experts, while noting that the link between the card and the sniper remained unconfirmed, recalled other serial killers who left "calling cards."

One of the most notorious was David Berkowitz, who killed six people in New York in 1976-77. He wrote a letter to newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin and left a note addressed to a police detective that said: "I am a monster. I am the 'Son of Sam.'"

Robert K. Ressler, a former FBI profiler, interviewed Berkowitz after his arrest.

"He said this was a stimulating thing for him to see the letters in the paper," Ressler said. "Even though he's the only one who knows, notoriety becomes very satisfying to an inadequate loser. It's a way of imposing power and control over society."

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002