- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five
people were killed in an apparently random series of shootings over several
hours in a Washington suburb, police said on Thursday.
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- Police spokeswoman Nancy Nickerson said one woman and
four men were killed in six separate shooting incidents that began at 5:20
p.m. EDT on Wednesday. The latest one was at 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday in
Montgomery County, Maryland, which is north of Washington.
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- Victims were killed in a 10-mile radius and police said
they appeared to be randomly selected in busy public places.
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- The first victim, who died on Wednesday, was a 55-year-old
man shot in a supermarket parking lot. On Thursday a man mowing grass near
a shopping mall was killed. A taxi driver was killed while pumping gasoline,
a woman was shot sitting on a park bench outside a post office, and another
victim was shot at second gasoline station.
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- The shootings began before the first murder, with a gun
being fired through a store-front window, police said. No one was killed.
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- Montgomery Police Chief Charles Moose said there was
no obvious motive for the killings, though they were believed to be linked.
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- "We strongly feel that all of these are connected.
Certainly the weaponry seems very similar. There is not a lot of indication
at this time that any of these individuals know each other," Moose
told reporters.
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- Police were looking for a white delivery truck with black
or purple lettering seen leaving the scene of one of the shootings. At
least two white trucks were pulled over, with witnesses seeing two men
in handcuffs on the side of the highway headed toward the Baltimore-Washington
airport.
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- Children at schools in the county were told they could
not leave and outside activities were halted, officials said. Afternoon
kindergarten classes were also been canceled.
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- Montgomery County is one of the richest counties in the
United States, though several of the shootings occurred in less affluent
sections.
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