- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
woman was shot and killed on Monday night in a Washington suburban shopping
mall and police were investigating whether the killing was linked to a
sniper who has killed eight people and badly wounded two others traumatizing
the nation's capital.
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- Police were looking for a shooter after the woman was
hit in the head while pushing a shopping cart in a parking lot near a Home
Depot store in Falls Church, west of Washington. The woman was not immediately
identified.
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- Employees working in the shopping center heard a single
shot, CNN television said. One-bullet attacks have been a hallmark of the
sniper so far.
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- "The task force has been advised and they're on
their way," a police spokeswoman said. No further details were immediately
available.
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- Major traffic arteries were shut down as dozens of police
cars converged on the area and helicopters flew overhead. Police were trying
to find a van seen leaving the crime scene.
-
- The Washington area sniper, who uses a high-velocity
rifle to pick off random victims from long range, remains at large despite
a massive law enforcement dragnet, including the FBI.
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- TAROT CLUE
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- Physical evidence has been scant, with one taunting clue
apparently left by the methodical shooter near where a 13-year-old victim
was shot: A Tarot "Death" card with the words "Dear Mister
Policeman, I am God" scrawled on the back.
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- The last fatality linked to the sniper who has terrorized
Washington D.C. and its normally tranquil and affluent suburbs in neighboring
Maryland and Virginia was on Friday, at a gasoline station in Spotsylvania
County, Virginia.
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- The victims have been linked by ballistics experts.
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- The first five sniper killings took place in a 15-hour
period over Oct. 2 and Oct. 3, in Maryland's Montgomery County, one of
the most prosperous counties in the United States. Another victim was killed
in Washington and two others in the southern suburbs of the city in Spotsylvania
County, Virginia.
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- The sniper injured two people: the 13-year-old schoolboy
in Bowie, Maryland, northeast of Washington, and a woman in Fredericksburg,
Virginia, to the south.
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- FELLED WITH ONE SHOT
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- In all cases, the victims were felled with one shot,
fired from a distance. Most shootings were near busy highways, while victims
were performing the most ordinary activities: mowing a lawn, pumping gasoline,
entering a school, cleaning a car.
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- The killings raised the question of gun control in the
United States which is periodically traumatized by serial killers.
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- The shootings cast a pall that reached to the White House.
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- "The sniper attacks, first of all, I'm just sick
-- sick to my stomach -- to think that there is a coldblooded killer at
home taking innocent life," President Bush told reporters. "I
weep for those who have lost their loved ones."
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- Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan said county
citizens have only one goal in this case: "Their message is catch
him. Catch him as fast as you can, catch him, catch him ... We will not
be at peace in this community until we catch whoever's doing this."
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- Duncan said a reward for information leading to the sniper's
capture had reached $500,000.
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- At many schools around the Washington area, children
have been kept inside the school buildings during recess, with high security
and a heavy police presence around schools.
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