- WOODBRIDGE, Va. (Reuters)
- Ballistics evidence revealed that a 53-year-old man shot to death at
a Virginia gas station was the seventh victim to die at the hands of a
sniper on the loose in the Washington area, police said on Thursday.
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- The news further alarmed local residents, reeling from
a week of apparently random murders in the normally tranquil communities
encircling the U.S. capital.
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- "The ballistics evidence has concluded that these
cases are linked," Prince William Police Chief Charlie Deane told
reporters, confirming fears that a still-elusive gunman had extended his
killing spree into a new suburb.
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- The latest victim was shot once in the chest just after
he filled his car with gas in Manassas, 30 miles southwest of Washington,
shortly after 8 p.m. He died on the scene.
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- He is the seventh person to die in sniper attacks in
the Washington area since October 2. Two other people have been injured
in the attacks, including a 13-year-old schoolboy.
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- Each of the sniper's victims was hit by a single shot
fired from an assault or hunting rifle, police said. There was no indication
the victims, aged 13 to 72, knew each other but ballistics evidence has
connected the crimes.
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- Two of the previous victims were killed at gas stations,
one filling his gas tank and one vacuuming her car.
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- No witnesses have reported seeing a gunman, although
all the attacks have taken place in public places and many have occurred
in broad daylight.
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- Last week, when the sniper first struck, police said
they were searching for a white commercial delivery truck seen near one
of the shootings.
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- After the Manassas shooting, authorities said they were
searching for a white minivan seen leaving the area after the shooting.
But Deane said they no longer thought the van's driver responsible.
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- "The white minivan may not be involved. We are in
the process of interviewing someone who may have been operating that van,"
Deane told reporters. "The van may have been innocently there."
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- The Secret Service, FBI, U.S. Marshals and the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have joined state and local police in
the investigation that spans five jurisdictions.
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- More than 1,500 "credible leads" have been
called in to public hotlines, police said. Authorities are offering a reward
of $307,000 for information leading to the arrest of the gunman or gunmen.
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- FALSE ALARMS
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- Few details of the investigation have been released and
a skittish public has alerted police to a series of false alarms since
the first shooting, many of which have been linked to noisy car exhaust
systems or gunshots related to Virginia's hunting season.
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- The gunman reportedly left a Tarot card representing
death with the message "Dear Policeman, I am God" not far from
where a 13-year-old boy was critically injured outside a school in Prince
George's County, Maryland, on Monday.
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- Police were angered that the Tarot card clue was leaked
to the media and have refused to publicly discuss its significance.
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- The Washington Post on Thursday quoted police sources
as saying the card also contained a handwritten request from the sniper
that the note not be revealed to the news media.
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- "This was a personal message to us, and the intention
of the (shooter) was to develop a relationship with us," one detective
who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
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