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American Morning

Interview with Charles Moose

Aired October 04, 2002 - 08:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: He is being called, or they are being called calculating, skilled shooter or shooters. That's the way authorities in suburban Washington right now say the person who may be responsible now for this deadly shooting spree or persons, in fact. In a period of about 16 hours, five people shot and killed. Investigators right now calling on the public for clues. They are scouring the area yet again today.
Chief Charles Moose of the Montgomery County Police joins us now live this morning.

We heard him moments ago in Rockville. He's back with us.

Chief, where is your investigation headed today, sir?

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Well, again, the investigation at this point obviously focusing on tips. More science type evidence is coming in. I think the investigators have had a chance to catch their breath and are working the various issues, again, not shutting anything out and keeping all avenues of the investigation open.

HEMMER: Did it strike you that the individuals all slain were somewhat isolated in the work they were doing? Is that accurate to say?

MOOSE: Well, when you say isolated in the work that they were doing, we don't have anything that connects them to any big project, anything to do with government...

HEMMER: Yes, I guess my point was one man was cutting his grass. Another woman was off to the side in a service station. In other words, they were not in crowds at the time. Is that accurate?

MOOSE: That is accurate and actually there were other people around them. So there were multiple targets, but they took the one target and then moved to another location.

HEMMER: Do you think you're dealing with a trained marksman or marksmen here?

MOOSE: Again, you know, a lot of people in this country do things with firearms. So I don't know the level of training, but certainly someone that was a very good shooter demonstrated that yesterday.

HEMMER: One of the FBI special agents on CNN last night said that shooter or shooters right now are essentially on emotional heroin as a result of this. Would you characterize it that way?

MOOSE: You know, certainly I wouldn't characterize it that way. But, you know, we want to find this person or persons and we want to take them off the street.

HEMMER: What are you telling...

MOOSE: I'm not really, I'm not interested in putting a label on them.

HEMMER: I apologize about the interruption. I'm sorry about that. What are you telling people in your community, Chief?

MOOSE: We're telling people in our community that we are throwing all of our resources at it. Neighboring jurisdictions are helping us. The federal government is helping us. We want them to carry on with their daily work, but we want them to be very attentive to things that look out of place, to things that they may observe. And if they see or hear anything, don't feel like they're bothering us. Please call us. Let us investigate it.

HEMMER: All right, Chief, listen, before we let you go, quickly, how are people responding and reacting? Are they staying indoors? Have you seen that? Or do you see a difference there?

MOOSE: What I'm seeing is that there's a lot of compassion in this community. Everyone's heart is out to the victims and to their families. But we're not paralyzed. People are going about with business. Kids are in school. School has started. People are safe this morning, as of this moment, and we are trying to carry forward. There's a lot of pain. We have heavy hearts. But we are not paralyzed and we are conducting business.

HEMMER: Chief, good luck today, OK?

MOOSE: Thank you, sir.

HEMMER: Charlie Moose, Montgomery County there again, just outside of Washington, D.C., and Rockville, Maryland.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 4, 2002 - 08:27   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: He is being called, or they are being called calculating, skilled shooter or shooters. That's the way authorities in suburban Washington right now say the person who may be responsible now for this deadly shooting spree or persons, in fact. In a period of about 16 hours, five people shot and killed. Investigators right now calling on the public for clues. They are scouring the area yet again today.
Chief Charles Moose of the Montgomery County Police joins us now live this morning.

We heard him moments ago in Rockville. He's back with us.

Chief, where is your investigation headed today, sir?

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: Well, again, the investigation at this point obviously focusing on tips. More science type evidence is coming in. I think the investigators have had a chance to catch their breath and are working the various issues, again, not shutting anything out and keeping all avenues of the investigation open.

HEMMER: Did it strike you that the individuals all slain were somewhat isolated in the work they were doing? Is that accurate to say?

MOOSE: Well, when you say isolated in the work that they were doing, we don't have anything that connects them to any big project, anything to do with government...

HEMMER: Yes, I guess my point was one man was cutting his grass. Another woman was off to the side in a service station. In other words, they were not in crowds at the time. Is that accurate?

MOOSE: That is accurate and actually there were other people around them. So there were multiple targets, but they took the one target and then moved to another location.

HEMMER: Do you think you're dealing with a trained marksman or marksmen here?

MOOSE: Again, you know, a lot of people in this country do things with firearms. So I don't know the level of training, but certainly someone that was a very good shooter demonstrated that yesterday.

HEMMER: One of the FBI special agents on CNN last night said that shooter or shooters right now are essentially on emotional heroin as a result of this. Would you characterize it that way?

MOOSE: You know, certainly I wouldn't characterize it that way. But, you know, we want to find this person or persons and we want to take them off the street.

HEMMER: What are you telling...

MOOSE: I'm not really, I'm not interested in putting a label on them.

HEMMER: I apologize about the interruption. I'm sorry about that. What are you telling people in your community, Chief?

MOOSE: We're telling people in our community that we are throwing all of our resources at it. Neighboring jurisdictions are helping us. The federal government is helping us. We want them to carry on with their daily work, but we want them to be very attentive to things that look out of place, to things that they may observe. And if they see or hear anything, don't feel like they're bothering us. Please call us. Let us investigate it.

HEMMER: All right, Chief, listen, before we let you go, quickly, how are people responding and reacting? Are they staying indoors? Have you seen that? Or do you see a difference there?

MOOSE: What I'm seeing is that there's a lot of compassion in this community. Everyone's heart is out to the victims and to their families. But we're not paralyzed. People are going about with business. Kids are in school. School has started. People are safe this morning, as of this moment, and we are trying to carry forward. There's a lot of pain. We have heavy hearts. But we are not paralyzed and we are conducting business.

HEMMER: Chief, good luck today, OK?

MOOSE: Thank you, sir.

HEMMER: Charlie Moose, Montgomery County there again, just outside of Washington, D.C., and Rockville, Maryland.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com