The Plain Dealer October 16, 2002
Sniper blamed in 9th death
Washington- Police confirmed yesterday that a woman killed outside a suburban Home Depot was the ninth victim of a serial sniper, but they held out hope that fresh clues from the crime scene would lead them to the shooter.
The parking lot and the intersection near the site of Monday's killing yielded numerous eyewitnesses, investigators said. "There was some additional information we were able to get from last night's case, and I am confident that ultimately that information is going to lead to an arrest," said Thomas Manger, police chief of Fairfax County, Va., where the Home Depot store was located.
Law enforcement officials released composite drawings of two light-colored vans witnesses have seen near the shooting scenes in suburban Washington and reportedly collected descriptions of potential suspects.
Meanwhile, the White House resisted calls from gun- control advocates for a national ballistics "fingerprinting" database.
"When it comes to criminal behavior and people who use guns to commit murder, there's no amount of laws that is going to stop these people from committing these depraved crimes," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
At the same time, the House approved a bill yesterday to improve the database used to check gun buyers - the first gun-regulation measure before Congress in more than a year. But critics said the measure, which was supported by the National Rifle Association, would do little to control the availability of guns.
Police identified the latest sniper victim as Linda Franklin, a 47-year-old analyst for the FBI who was putting packages into her car outside Home Depot in Fairfax County, when a bullet struck her head. The sniper has attacked 11 people in less than two weeks; two of the victims, a 13-year-old boy and a 43-year-old woman, survived.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agreed yesterday to provide military surveillance aircraft in the hunt for the killer, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The turbo-prop DeHavilland DHC-7 is equipped with telescopic cameras able to capture detailed images of vehicles or other subjects from altitudes of 20,000 to 30,000 feet, said John Pike, an analyst at Globalsecurity.org.
"As soon as you get a report of a shooting, they would train a camera on the location and start panning around in an expanding circle," Pike said.
Separately, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said investigators were hesitant to rule out the possibility that terrorists were behind the slayings because there is no hard evidence about motive.
The shootings task force released two composite photographs of a light-colored van with a ladder rack on its roof, said Police Chief Charles Moose of Montgomery County. One composite depicts a Chevy Astro; the other a Ford Econoline van. Moose said it was impossible to say whether the killer was using more than one vehicle.
Moose refused to elaborate on reports that witnesses had provided a partial license plate number for the van. "Partial is just that - partial," he said. "We prefer not to deal with that."
Investigators also refused to comment on reports that they were developing a composite drawing of potential suspects with the help of witnesses.
"We'd love to come forth and show you the mug shots of the person suspected," Moose said. But he said police feared that prematurely releasing vague information could "contaminate" the effort to catch the suspect or suspects.
Robert Young, a Washington construction worker, returned to the Home Depot to talk with police yesterday. He said he heard a muffled gunshot and saw a white van.
Young described the driver as a short man of slight build who appeared to be Middle Eastern. He said, "I got a good look at the guy."
The driver "seemed to be excessively irritated because he couldn't pull into my lane," he said.
"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."
Glen Guymon, a Washington lawyer who was shopping at Home Depot, said he talked to a witness who told him that he saw a man shoot Franklin from behind a cream-colored van.
The witness, who had already talked to police, told Guymon he was outside the store's main entrance when he saw a man standing next to the van at the end of the aisle where Franklin's car was parked.
The van was not parked in a space but was at a location closer to Route 50, facing west. The witness told Guymon that the man lifted a gun to his shoulder and shot Franklin.
"He said he saw that van parked, a guy standing behind it," Guymon said.
"The guy lifted up a rifle to his shoulder and shot the woman, who was standing by her car with her husband. He said the guy at the van got in the van and drove off."
© 2002 The Plain Dealer.
