Adam
10-12-02, 06:40 PM
WASHINGTON'S serial sniper claimed a 10th victim yesterday when another motorist was killed while filling his petrol tank.
In the most brazen attack in an 11-day killing spree, a 53-year-old man was shot as a police officer stood 40m away.
As the Washington district braced for a nervous weekend, police indicated the shooting was linked to the sniper.
"With a uniformed trooper directly across the street, we're obviously dealing with an individual who is extremely violent and who doesn't care," Howard Smith of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said.
The victim, Philadelphia businessman Kenneth H. Bridges, was felled with a single high-powered shot fired from a distance.
As he fell mortally wounded on a service station driveway, the killer made a dramatic getaway in a white van, thought to be driven by an accomplice.
Smashing other vehicles aside, the van roared onto a busy inter-state highway, evading an 80km dragnet immediately thrown around routes to the capital.
With each new attack, Washington has become an even more frightened city.
Home deliveries are booming as locals avoid making unnecessary trips.
Starbucks coffee shops have moved footpath chairs inside and many motorists fill petrol tanks while crouching behind their cars.
Washington schools have cancelled sporting events and most functions scheduled outdoors over the weekend.
Like the attacks on October 4, 7 and 9, yesterday's murder was executed near a major highway – a tactic police believe allows the shooter to escape with ease.
The police officer at the service station heard a shot ring out and dashed to the fallen man, but did not see the shooter.
Witnesses saw a white van, with two people inside and a ladder on the roof, speed away. The van has become the focus of the investigation.
The shooting occurred about 9.30am at an Exxon station near Fredericksburg, the scene of an earlier shooting, but an hour's drive south of where most victims were killed.
Four victims were killed while refuelling or vacuuming cars at service stations.
One Washington resident, Andrea Nordan, didn't want to be at the Exxon service station yesterday, but an empty tank left her with no choice.
"I'm getting ready to run out of gas because I haven't wanted to fill up," she said.
Erin Hutchens, who was filling up at an Amoco, said: "It definitely crosses your mind – it's an uneasy feeling."
At a restaurant near the site of yesterday's attack, Rebecca Didion parked her car illegally against the kerb to avoid walking across a carpark and making herself a better target.
She kept her four children home from school, but told of their fatalistic attitude: "My eight-year-old said to me, if it's our time to go, it's our time to go – so why can't we just get on with our lives?"
After the latest shooting, police set up roadblocks on highways that run near the Exxon station in Virginia.
Armed officers searched white vans, but no arrests were made.
Police have called on residents throughout Washington, Maryland and Virginia to report suspicious activity.
A spokesperson said: "Someone that was not at work during the incidents; has not been keeping their schedule; has taken on some type of attitude about the joy of all of these events; taken on some kind of anger towards the police."
Sunday Telegraph
Source. (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5276292%255E2,00.html)
In the most brazen attack in an 11-day killing spree, a 53-year-old man was shot as a police officer stood 40m away.
As the Washington district braced for a nervous weekend, police indicated the shooting was linked to the sniper.
"With a uniformed trooper directly across the street, we're obviously dealing with an individual who is extremely violent and who doesn't care," Howard Smith of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said.
The victim, Philadelphia businessman Kenneth H. Bridges, was felled with a single high-powered shot fired from a distance.
As he fell mortally wounded on a service station driveway, the killer made a dramatic getaway in a white van, thought to be driven by an accomplice.
Smashing other vehicles aside, the van roared onto a busy inter-state highway, evading an 80km dragnet immediately thrown around routes to the capital.
With each new attack, Washington has become an even more frightened city.
Home deliveries are booming as locals avoid making unnecessary trips.
Starbucks coffee shops have moved footpath chairs inside and many motorists fill petrol tanks while crouching behind their cars.
Washington schools have cancelled sporting events and most functions scheduled outdoors over the weekend.
Like the attacks on October 4, 7 and 9, yesterday's murder was executed near a major highway – a tactic police believe allows the shooter to escape with ease.
The police officer at the service station heard a shot ring out and dashed to the fallen man, but did not see the shooter.
Witnesses saw a white van, with two people inside and a ladder on the roof, speed away. The van has become the focus of the investigation.
The shooting occurred about 9.30am at an Exxon station near Fredericksburg, the scene of an earlier shooting, but an hour's drive south of where most victims were killed.
Four victims were killed while refuelling or vacuuming cars at service stations.
One Washington resident, Andrea Nordan, didn't want to be at the Exxon service station yesterday, but an empty tank left her with no choice.
"I'm getting ready to run out of gas because I haven't wanted to fill up," she said.
Erin Hutchens, who was filling up at an Amoco, said: "It definitely crosses your mind – it's an uneasy feeling."
At a restaurant near the site of yesterday's attack, Rebecca Didion parked her car illegally against the kerb to avoid walking across a carpark and making herself a better target.
She kept her four children home from school, but told of their fatalistic attitude: "My eight-year-old said to me, if it's our time to go, it's our time to go – so why can't we just get on with our lives?"
After the latest shooting, police set up roadblocks on highways that run near the Exxon station in Virginia.
Armed officers searched white vans, but no arrests were made.
Police have called on residents throughout Washington, Maryland and Virginia to report suspicious activity.
A spokesperson said: "Someone that was not at work during the incidents; has not been keeping their schedule; has taken on some type of attitude about the joy of all of these events; taken on some kind of anger towards the police."
Sunday Telegraph
Source. (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5276292%255E2,00.html)