B: 'Death' Card Found at Sniper Scene
ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct 09, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Investigators searching
for a sniper terrorizing the Washington suburbs found a Tarot card with the
words, "Dear policeman, I am God," near a bullet casing outside the school where
a 13-year-old boy was critically wounded, a source familiar with the
investigation confirmed Wednesday.
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who has been leading the
investigation, wouldn't comment about the card and said he was concerned that
unapproved information was 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 Wednesday.
The taunting message, first reported Tuesday night on WUSA-TV and then by The
Washington Post, was confirmed by a source Wednesday to The Associated Press.
The message was left on a Tarot card known as the Death card.
The shell casing was being checked against the National Ballistics
Identification Network, a database of crime-scene firearms evidence maintained
by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The motive for the seemingly random crimes still eluded police Wednesday, one
week after the first of six slayings. Nearly 200 investigators were working
their way through 1,600 leads culled from 8,000 tips.
"We need just a shred of evidence," Prince George's County Police Chief Gerald
Wilson said.
Police sources told the newspaper that the Tarot card was found next to the
spent shell casing in a wooded area about 150 yards from the school entrance in
an area of matted grass, suggesting the gunman had lain in wait.
Prince George's County police issued a statement saying: "We're not commenting
on any potential evidence that may have been located." Joseph Riehl, an agent
for the ATF, also declined comment.
Even as they discarded one lead - a man was released after police questioned him
about at least one rifle in his home - investigators wondered whether the sniper
might have struck weeks earlier, on Sept. 14, when a liquor store employee in
Montgomery County was wounded by an unknown assailant.
Bullet fragments recovered from the clerk who was wounded at a shopping center
in Silver Spring have been examined, but the analysis has proved inconclusive.
"We are not linking it, we are not ruling it out," ATF agent Michael Bouchard
said of the shooting in the Hillandale Shopping Center.
In Montgomery County, where five of the deaths occurred, Moose urged people to
keep calling in tips. The reward swelled to more than $237,000.
"We feel like someone has information that will help us bring this situation to
closure," Moose said.
Gov. Parris Glendening took a confrontational tone, repeatedly calling the
shooter "a coward" during a news conference.
Police believe the sniper has shot eight people, including a woman wounded 50
miles away in Virginia. One death occurred on a Washington street; the others
came within five miles of each other in Montgomery County.
Investigators say the sniper apparently picked victims at random and fired from
a distance with a high-powered hunting or military-style rifle. All the victims
were felled by a single bullet.
The Sept. 14 shooting occurred outside the Hillandale Beer and Wine store. Owner
Arnie Zelkovitz said police interviewed him about the incident, in which his
22-year-old employee was shot in the back.
Zelkovitz said he believes the man was another sniper victim: "It just seems too
coincidental."
The 13-year-old boy, who police have not identified, was in critical but stable
condition Tuesday with a wound to the chest. He was shot early Monday after his
aunt dropped him off at Benjamin Tasker Middle School.
Ballistics tests found that the bullet that struck him was of the same caliber
as those that killed some of the others and wounded a woman in Virginia. That
woman was released from the hospital Tuesday.
The FBI has set up command posts in Montgomery County and provided helicopter,
field office, lab and computer support.
Many Tasker parents kept their children home Tuesday; attendance was down by
one-third. Other parents served as volunteer guards, watching over
intersections.
"Usually I'm embarrassed to walk around and hold my mom's hand, but I don't care
today," said Tasker student Amanda Wiedmaier, 13.
Dorothy Prather, a Tasker teacher, was impressed by how well students responded
to the traumatic events. "They came right in today and sat down and went right
on with their work," she said. "The only ones who seemed really concerned were
the parents."
At a mall near Tasker, employees at a Coldwell Banker real estate office noticed
shoppers were edgy.
"They don't get out of their car without looking around, then they dash in the
store," Polly Rogers said. "You don't see people on their porch, or playing
tennis. We're not used to this - we think Bowie is the safest place."
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On the Net:
Montgomery County Police: co.mo.md.us
ATF: atf.treas.gov
By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved |
