CLOSING IN ON 1-SHOT KILLER

By NILES LATHEM, MARSHA KRANES and ALY SUJO

October 16, 2002 -- Authorities last night were frantically putting the finishing touches on a composite sketch of the Psycho Sniper - while moving in on 15 possible suspects ID'd through crucial clues from witnesses.

One witness who saw the latest shooting unfold Monday night has provided key details for the sketch of a single suspect, described as an olive-skinned man, possibly Hispanic or Middle Eastern, a source said.

Other clues from the murder of a 47-year-old FBI analyst in the parking lot of a Virginia Home Depot - including a partial Maryland license-plate number and a report of a busted taillight on the suspect white van - prompted computerized cross-searches of government records.

The potential suspects were ID'd after authorities pored over vehicle registrations, gun and criminal records, and photos from drivers' licenses in Maryland.

The heartening new turns in the investigation came after terrorism analyst Linda Franklin was killed by the one-shot marksman outside the home-improvement store in Falls Church as her stunned husband, Ted, watched. Not knowing where the shot had come from, he fell on his wife's body to try to protect her from more bullets, but she was already dead.

A witness later told cops he saw the suspect get out of a van parked haphazardly near Route 50, lift a gun to his shoulder and shoot Franklin, then speed off.

She was the killer's ninth victim to die in two weeks. The murderer has also wounded two others.

Witnesses provided descriptions both of the fiend and a vehicle seen racing from the scene - a white Chevrolet Astro van with a chrome rooftop ladder rack.

One law-enforcement official said cops also are looking at a possible terrorism angle in the shooting spree.

He said the FBI has been reviewing intelligence from Afghanistan and elsewhere to see if anything turns up about snipers or sniper training that fits the profile of the sharpshooter.

Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge said there's "no evidence at this point" that the killer is a terrorist. But "you don't want to draw any premature conclusions."

Authorities also suggested they're keeping some clues under wraps.

"There was some additional information we were able to get, and I am confident that information is going to lead us to an arrest," said Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger.

A construction worker told police about a run-in he had with two men in an Astro seconds after he heard a shot.

The worker, Robert Young, said the white van tried to turn into his lane and the man behind the wheel appeared "excessively irritated" to find his way blocked. He described the driver as a short, slight-built man who appeared to be Middle Eastern.

"I thought this fool was going to want to get out of the van and duke or something. But he didn't. He kept on going," Young said.

Another witness told police that soon after the shooting he saw a white Chevy Astro stuck in eastbound traffic on Route 50 - near the Home Depot parking lot - not far from where cops put up a roadblock.

The witness said the van went over the median, made a U-turn, and headed west toward the Beltway and other major roads leading out of the area.

Probers also are reportedly looking into a possible link between the killer and Michael's, a crafts chain with stores close to many of the shootings.

Less than an hour before the sniper first struck in a supermarket parking lot Oct. 2, a bullet of the caliber he uses was shot through the window of a Michael's two miles away.

Another shooting took place just outside a Michael's. And Monday's attack occurred 100 feet away from another Michael's.

In all, six of the shootings occurred less than a mile from a Michael's store.

Meanwhile, FBI workers mourned Franklin as a friend and a productive colleague. They said she had played a major role in creating the FBI's InfraGard program, in which the government shares tips and warnings with private companies that promise not to make them public.

She and her husband were planning their move into a new home this week, loading up their small red convertible with shelving from Home Depot when the shooting occurred.

Her grieving uncle, Glenn Easterday, said Franklin had two children, Tommy, 25, and Katie, 24 - and that Katie was five-months pregnant with a boy.

"Linda was going to be a grandmother," Easterday said. "But she'll never see the kid now."

Additional reporting by Deborah Orin in Washington

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2002

Answers

It's maddening, waiting for them to catch the purp[s]. It's even more maddening when the purp[s] continue to claim victims.

I would hate to see some stupid legal blunder in procedure allow the purp[s] to go free after the arrest. that's assuming the purp[s] lives thru the arrest process...

How about sentencing them to a short life as a target on a gun range while hanging above a pit of starving alligators? While salt is sprinkled on the bullet wounds in the midst of a light shower of acid.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2002