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ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- A bus driver was shot to death Tuesday morning in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the sniper task force was investigating whether the killing was connected to the attacks that have left nine dead and three wounded in the Washington area.

Police said the driver, a man "approximately 40 years old," was standing on the top step platform of a commuter bus when he was shot in the chest. The bus apparently was sitting in a staging area where buses begin or end their routes.

The victim was taken to a trauma center in Bethesda, where he died.

The shooting was reported at 5:56 a.m. EDT in the Aspen Hill neighborhood of Silver Spring, an area close to the scenes of several of the previous sniper attacks.

Police in cars and helicopters converged on the shooting scene, which is near a basketball court surrounded by woods. Major roadways in and around the Washington metro area were blocked as police hunted for clues. Bloodhounds were being used to comb the woods near the scene.

The shooting prompted officials to order all Montgomery County schools to operate under Code Blue, said Brian Porter, director of communications for the schools. Under Code Blue, all exterior doors are locked, all entrances and exits are monitored and all staff maintain a higher level of vigilance than usual, said Porter.

The first six sniper shootings took place in Montgomery County. No one was injured in the first, when a window was shot out at a Michaels craft store in Aspen Hill on October 2. Five people were subsequently killed in the county October 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, law enforcement sources said a hand-written note found near the scene of Saturday's sniper shooting in Virginia "hinted at a demand for money" and threatened "more killing."

Sources told CNN the note contained unspecified threats about killing children if certain demands were not met.

CNN initially withheld that information at the request of law enforcement officials, who feared that releasing it could jeopardize the investigation and put the community at risk. However, after several other news organizations reported the information, the officials said they had no objection to CNN reporting it.

The note is undergoing analysis at an FBI lab for DNA, handwriting and other details that might help determine who wrote it. Sources said authorities were working under the assumption that it is from the sniper.

The discovery of the note behind the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, prompted Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose on Sunday to make his first plea to the sniper to contact authorities. (Account of response to note)

Investigators believe the sniper called authorities Monday morning using a voice-disguising device, a source close to the investigation told CNN.

It was that phone call, this source said, that prompted Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose to urge the possible sniper to "call us back."

"The person you called could not hear everything that you said. The audio was unclear, and we want to get it right," Moose said at a news conference. (Full story)

Other developments *The victim of the shooting outside the Ponderosa restaurant, a 37-year-old man from Melbourne, Florida, was in critical but stable condition at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Officials linked the shooting to the other sniper cases after analyzing the bullet that doctors removed from the man.

*Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he did not foresee the FBI taking over the sniper investigation, but he did not rule out the possibility. (Full story)

*Public schools in 10 Richmond-area districts were closed Tuesday, officials announced Monday. They include schools in the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights, and in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, Goochland, Dinwiddie and Prince George. Five of those districts also were shut down Monday -- affecting about 150,000 students -- because of parental and community concern following Saturday's shooting in Ashland, north of Richmond.

-- CNN correspondents Kelli Arena, Jason Carroll, Patty Davis and Jeanne Meserve, and producer Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002

Answers

About the school closings...

How many parents have to stay home from work as a result of the closings because they have no one to watch the kids while they're at work? Could be a considerable number of them, which will impact the businesses they work for, like the government offices.

Pity the talking heads don't seem interested in covering this angle. It would bring some much needed new fodder to their chattering of nothing in particular.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002


The thing about the school closings is that they could go on indefinitely.

We had a building fire drill today. Everyone sounded like Chief Moose.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002


Bus Driver Shot, Killed in Montgomery County Police Investigating 'As if it Is Related' to Sniper Attacks

By Hamil R. Harris and Lyndsey Layton Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 22, 2002; 11:55 AM

A Ride On bus driver was shot and killed today while standing on the steps of his bus in the Aspen Hill area, and Montgomery County Police Capt. Nancy Demme said police were "investigating the shooting as if it is related" to the string of sniper attacks in the Washington area.

The unidentified man was 40 years old, according to Demme. A Montgomery County fire department official said he had been shot in the upper stomach area, under the ribs. He was rushed to Suburban Hospital after the 6 a.m. shooting and immediately went into surgery. But a police civilian spokesperson referred to his death about 10:30 a.m. An hour later, hospital spokeswoman Rona Borenstein-Levy told reporters that family members would not be releasing a statement and that there would be "no more press briefings here at Suburban Hospital."

Police instituted a dragnet to try to snare the sniper, creating a major traffic jam throughout suburban Maryland.

Traffic on commuter roads between suburban Maryland and the District ground to a halt, as police scattered checkpoints throughout Montgomery County. Congestion lasted well through the morning rush hour and continued past 10 a.m. Police moved checkpoints from place to place, and asked traffic reporters not to broadcast their locations – a request with which most complied.

Roadblocks were removed from interstate highways shortly before 10 a.m., but as of 10:35 a.m., checkpoints continued on secondary roads, Maryland State Police Cpl. Robert Moroney said.

Demme said there were a couple of witnesses at the scene of the shooting, who are being interviewed by members of the police task force investigating the string of sniper attacks, which before today had killed nine people and injured three since Oct. 2. Police have not yet officially linked today's shooting to the sniper – they will need specific evidence for that – but the massive police investigation was similar to the other probes in the case.

The victim was the operator of a Ride On bus that was stopped in an area where buses prepare for their morning routes, Moroney said. He was standing on the top step of his bus at the time of the shooting. Moroney declined to say whether the driver was alone in the bus.

The Ride On bus did not have security cameras. Ride On has wired about 10 percent of its 240-bus fleet with cameras as part of a pilot program, but this bus is not among them.

Demme said the attack occurred in the 14100 block of Grand Pre Road, just off Aspen Hill Road, about a half-mile from where police believe the first shot of the spree was fired on Oct 2, and within a mile of two of the sniper's early killings on Oct. 3. The area is near a large wooded tract.

Investigators from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Secret Service and local agencies could be seen combing the woods behind the shooting scene. The bus where the victim was shot sat idle with its blinkers on behind the yellow police tape.

Debra Johnson, who works at the post office across the street from where the shooting took place, said she stepped out to get coffee this morning and saw police officers descending on the scene, sirens blaring.

"It felt scary, because it could have been one of us," said Johnson, who began her shift at 3 a.m.

The area where the shooting took place includes several high-rise apartment complexes, and residents who were out before the police descended found themselves temporarily unable to get back to their homes.

Jose DeLeon, 33, was in his apartment a couple of blocks away from the shooting scene when he heard an explosion of police sirens and then helicopters descending on nearby Connecticut Avenue. He tried to get to the bus stop to catch a ride to his job in Bethesda, but police told him to turn around. "I can't go nowhere because there are no buses and I don't drive."

Montgomery County police manned the nearby intersection at Connecticut and Georgia avenues, checking every car and wearing bulletproof vests and carrying high-powered rifles.

If the case is connected, it would be the sniper's first attack in Montgomery County since Oct. 3, when police believe he killed four people in the county and one in Northwest Washington.

And, if linked, the attack would mark a return to the assailant's initial pattern of shooting in the morning. Three of the last four shootings have taken place in the evening.

Schools were still open in Montgomery County but under Code Blue, which means the children do not go outside, field trips were canceled and the doors are locked. Afternoon pre-kindergarten classes and kindergarten classes have been canceled.

There were many reports of school buses being caught in the traffic jams and being quite late picking up students.

However, a number of private schools in Montgomery County decided to close this morning on the advice of police, including four private Catholic schools.

If the shooting today is linked to the sniper, the attack would mark a geographic switch north of almost 100 miles from the killer's most prior shooting, which happened Saturday night in Ashland, Va., outside Richmond.

The attack comes in the midst of ongoing attempts by police to conduct a bizarre dialogue with the killer – issuing cryptic comments at press conferences in response to a message they believe was left by the sniper at the scene of Saturday's shooting and to phone calls they believe he has placed to them.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002


We have been having fire drills fairly often lately. Last night we had one just before we were to leave for the night. Caused most clerks to have overtime to finish clearing the hot mail. our illustrous supervisor had earlier ranted on about unauthorized overtime. talk about timing, LOL.

Fire drill was very short, no sooner did we get outside we were told to go back in. I doubt very seriously that they managed to verify that the building was indeed empty. I think they realized the cost in overtime and tried to abort the drill.

Oh yeah, we still do not have any security. Guess I shouldn't post that, huh?

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002


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