- Cassy Lament has a car that stands out: a baby blue 1986
Mustang. But these days, the 18-year-old Columbus, Ohio, restaurant employee
does not want to attract undue attention along what has become a notorious
8-kilometre stretch of Interstate 270.
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- "I'm scared," she said Tuesday. "You never
know who's going to be next."
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- Ms. Lament was referring to a spate of sniper-like shootings
that began in May along I-270. None of the shots was fatal until last week,
when 62-year-old Gail Knisley was killed by a bullet that ripped through
the driver's door of a car as she headed to a doctor's appointment on the
I-270, a highway that rings Columbus.
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- "What was that?" Ms. Knisley asked the friend
who was driving her, and then she slumped forward.
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- Police, using ballistics tests on bullet fragments, have
linked the killing of Ms. Knisley to two other shots fired at vehicles
along the same stretch of road, known as the Jack Nicklaus Highway.
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- A fourth shooting that smashed an elementary school window
has also been linked to the same gun, police said.
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- Although not confirmed by ballistic tests, police said
they "are comfortable" a total of 12 shootings on I-270 and nearby
roads are linked.
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- That has attracted international attention and speculation
that suburban Columbus is being targeted by a gunman similar to the snipers
who terrorized the Washington area a year ago in a series of shootings
that left 10 people dead.
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- Debbie Slonnaker, assistant manager at a Columbus-area
Super 8 Motel located at an I-270 exit, said "a lot of people are
referring back to that [the Washington cases]" when making reservations
at the motel. The travellers, she said, are asking: "Is it happening
here?"
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- The motel assistant manager said clients are phoning
ahead to ask how close the motel is to the area of the shootings.
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- "We're right at the exit where it's happening. They
want to know whether they have to travel that strip of road to get to us.
It's scary over here, and there are helicopters overhead constantly."
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- Such notoriety is not good for local businesses, which
are now offering a $10,000 (U.S.) reward for information leading to an
arrest and indictment.
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- The first reported shooting was in May.
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- The Associated Press reported that the rest have taken
place over the past seven weeks, with shots fired at different times of
day, hitting trucks, cars, vans and pickups, shattering windows and blowing
out tires. None of the other shootings resulted in injuries.
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- Franklin County Sheriff investigators, part of a task
force of local, state and federal authorities probing the shootings, have
said only that tests on recovered bullets have connected Ms. Knisley's
slaying to three other shootings, but they would not make any comment about
the type of weapon used.
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- "I'm not in a position where I can tell you exactly
what happened, whether someone was stationary or mobile when any of these
shots were fired," Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin said.
"To speculate would be irresponsible. It is clear the [Knisley] shooting
. . . was not a single or accidental act of violence."
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- He declined to characterize the shootings as the work
of a sniper.
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- In normal times, more than 77,000 vehicles a day travel
the affected stretch of I-270, according to state transportation figures.
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- But Ms. Slonnaker says those numbers are down considerably.
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- "There are a lot of people in the area who will
not travel that strip any more at all," she said. "They'll take
the back roads to get here."
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- Ms. Slonnaker herself is somewhat sanguine, however.
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- "I travel that way to see my parents. I'm a little
leery but I still have to live my life."
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- Trucker William Briggs's tractor-trailer rig was hit
by a gunshot on Oct. 19. The shot blew out the driver's-side window and
narrowly missed Mr. Briggs, who told CNN, "I'm an old Vietnam vet
and my instincts kicked right in. We were always trained to drive through
an ambush, so I just gunned it."
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- Despite the harrowing experience, Mr. Briggs is back
on the same stretch of highway with another worry on his mind.
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- "Deer season [has] started up in southern Ohio.
When I drove through I was a little more nervous about that."
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- Indeed, Mr. Martin, the chief deputy, said this week
the public should not be alarmed by the sight of people with hunting rifles.
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- Nightmare on I-270
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- Police in Columbus, Ohio, are certain 12 shootings along
Interstate 270 since May of this year, including one that killed a woman,
are linked.Details are available on only 10 of the incidents:
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- May 10: A 37-year-old woman ran out of gas around 4 a.m.
in the westbound lanes of I-270 east of I-71.
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- After walking for help, she returned to find the car's
windshield shot out and the hood damaged.
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- Oct. 7: A 42-year-old Columbus woman, taking her daughter
to the doctor, reported that a gunshot struck her windshield about 4 p.m.
as she pulled onto I-71 from state Route 104, about three kilometres north
of I-270.
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- Oct. 10: A woman driving north on U.S. 23, north of I-270,
had a flat tire.
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- She didn't know the tire had been shot until she took
it to be repaired.
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- Oct. 11: A 36-year-old man was driving about noon along
I-270 when a bullet struck the rear side panel of his Nissan Sentra and
exited through the rear window, shattering it.
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- Oct. 19: Truck driver William Briggs, 56, of Hilliard,
Ohio, turned north onto westbound I-270 off of U.S. 23 at about 11:30 p.m.
and had driven about 1 kilometres when the driver's side window exploded
after being hit by a bullet.
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- Nov. 17: A United Parcel Service truck was eastbound
on I-270 around 11 a.m. between Parsons Avenue and U.S. 23 when the driver
reported hearing a noise.
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- A bullet hole was found in the door behind the driver's
seat.
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- Nov. 18: A woman was driving a Ford Explorer around 9:30
p.m. on U.S. 23, north of Rathmell Road when a bullet struck the driver's
side door.
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- Nov. 21: Edward Cable, 53, a retired prison guard from
Lucasville, Ohio, reported a bullet fired into his minivan about 7:40 p.m.
on U.S. 23 south of Rathmell Road., two kilometres from I-270.
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- Nov. 25: Gail Knisley, 62, of Washington Court House,
Ohio, was killed on I-270 about 10 a.m. when a bullet ripped through the
driver's door of the Pontiac Grand Am driven by a friend and struck her.
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- Hours later, a man from Pickaway County, just south of
Columbus, reported his GMC Jimmy was struck by gunfire.
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- © 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
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