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Clint Van Zandt: Shooter Likely to Strike Again

Aired October 08, 2002 - 10:21   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we want to return to suburban Washington and the manhunt for the sniper who had gunned down eight people. There are few concrete leads, so local, state, and federal authorities will be lying (ph) on other methods to narrow the search.
For a glimpse at what that entails, we bring back former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt -- Clint, glad to have you with us once again this morning.

CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: When we were watching this unfold yesterday, it wasn't clear if yesterday's shooting at the Middle School in Prince George's County was related to the other shootings. Now it is clear. What -- from what you see on yesterday's shooting, what more, other kind of clues can you tell about this killer?

VAN ZANDT: Well, when we saw this shooting yesterday, I think we all had consternation. It is -- do we want it to be -- I mean, we don't want it to happen, but if it's the same shooter, it says one thing. If it's a different shooter, then we've got a copycat and we're chasing two different people.

At least -- in this horrible situation, we're looking for one person. But what we're also looking at looking for is, I think, the first case of interactive terrorism that this country has seen. By interactive terrorism...

KAGAN: What do you mean by that?

VAN ZANDT: Yes. Last Friday, the shooter knew that we were concentrating a tremendous amount of law enforcement efforts in Montgomery County. So I think he hopped on I-95, he drove down the interstate 75 miles, jumped off at Fredericksburg, shot a 43-year-old woman in the back, jumped in his car and headed back to Montgomery County again.

I think he was trying to give the impression he was going south as well as the idea that he could range in any area that he wanted to.

But then we see this weekend, where Montgomery County authorities and the police worked so hard to reassure the public that we will do everything we can to make the schools safe for our children, that they can come to school, and interactively, Daryn, I think this killer, this back shooter, this coward, is watching this, and he's responding to what law enforcement does. In essence, when we put the word out, we will do everything we can to make our schools safe, I think unfortunately, he saw that as a challenge, perhaps, and responded to that and shot that child yesterday. So we have to be very careful what we say. I mean, this is a red flag in front of a bull, and this shooter is taking his cues, his clues, from the way we're responding in kind of almost an interactive type of mode, something like a video game, except death is very real in this case.

KAGAN: So you are saying he takes it as a dare?

VAN ZANDT: I believe he takes it as a challenge. This individual is very focused. He's a man with a mission. He understands what he's doing. He's cool. He's calculating. That's partially because he's a psychopath...

KAGAN: Let me just jump in here one second. You say he's a man. Would you bet money on that?

VAN ZANDT: Yes, I would. I would bet money on it at this point, and the money I'm putting on it is not to say that women are not shooters. The money is to say that statistically, in the vast, vast majority of cases, men do it.

So if we don't know who it is, and we have to have a statistical fall back, we have to have a beginning point. The beginning point says this is a man. Now, could there be a woman driving him? Of course there could. This could be a Bonnie and Clyde, but right now, short of eyewitness identification that says, I saw this woman with long red hair leaning over a scoped rifle, we have to at least go with the starting point that it's a male.

KAGAN: Let me ask you this, when you were here with us yesterday, you said you were not surprised that he hit again that with Monday morning that he was back at work, as you said. Would you expect he's going to try yet again before he's caught?

VAN ZANDT: I do. And again, I don't want to give him clues or cues or anything else either, but I think law enforcement is doing what they have to do. You're going to see a tremendous influx of federal agents and resources in this area to protect our community. This is a highly solvable crime.

I like to believe within a week that law enforcement will be able to identify this person. Again, will I bet money on it? I'm betting on my associates in law enforcement that they're going to do their usual good job, but he will be back. This individual is a terrorist. I don't care if he looks like Mohamed Atta, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, he's there to terrorize us for whatever his reason. He likes it. This is his mission. This is emotional heroin for this guy, and he will be back and, unfortunately, I believe he will act again, and continue to act until law enforcement is finally able to arrest him.

KAGAN: Just real quickly, why do you feel comfortable with that time range of saying within a week, you think they will have tracked down this guy?

VAN ZANDT: Well -- I just -- no inside information. I just know that the law enforcement resources that are being thrown into our communities in the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where normally a lead might take a day, six hours, a few hours to follow up on, they will be able to follow up in minutes on leads that are being generated in this case. There's already 1,250 substantial leads that have come out that law enforcement is chasing down.

They have executed search warrants. They are looking at every conceivable thing from a connection to the Michael's store where the first shooting and the seventh shooting took place, to who's out buying .223 caliber rounds. Everything that the community, everything that law enforcement can do in a case like this is being done. We're looking for a needle in a haystack, but this is a killer and this is someone who enjoys what he's doing.

KAGAN: Clint Van Zandt, thank you so much for your insights. Good to have you with us yet again.

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 8, 2002 - 10:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we want to return to suburban Washington and the manhunt for the sniper who had gunned down eight people. There are few concrete leads, so local, state, and federal authorities will be lying (ph) on other methods to narrow the search.
For a glimpse at what that entails, we bring back former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt -- Clint, glad to have you with us once again this morning.

CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: When we were watching this unfold yesterday, it wasn't clear if yesterday's shooting at the Middle School in Prince George's County was related to the other shootings. Now it is clear. What -- from what you see on yesterday's shooting, what more, other kind of clues can you tell about this killer?

VAN ZANDT: Well, when we saw this shooting yesterday, I think we all had consternation. It is -- do we want it to be -- I mean, we don't want it to happen, but if it's the same shooter, it says one thing. If it's a different shooter, then we've got a copycat and we're chasing two different people.

At least -- in this horrible situation, we're looking for one person. But what we're also looking at looking for is, I think, the first case of interactive terrorism that this country has seen. By interactive terrorism...

KAGAN: What do you mean by that?

VAN ZANDT: Yes. Last Friday, the shooter knew that we were concentrating a tremendous amount of law enforcement efforts in Montgomery County. So I think he hopped on I-95, he drove down the interstate 75 miles, jumped off at Fredericksburg, shot a 43-year-old woman in the back, jumped in his car and headed back to Montgomery County again.

I think he was trying to give the impression he was going south as well as the idea that he could range in any area that he wanted to.

But then we see this weekend, where Montgomery County authorities and the police worked so hard to reassure the public that we will do everything we can to make the schools safe for our children, that they can come to school, and interactively, Daryn, I think this killer, this back shooter, this coward, is watching this, and he's responding to what law enforcement does. In essence, when we put the word out, we will do everything we can to make our schools safe, I think unfortunately, he saw that as a challenge, perhaps, and responded to that and shot that child yesterday. So we have to be very careful what we say. I mean, this is a red flag in front of a bull, and this shooter is taking his cues, his clues, from the way we're responding in kind of almost an interactive type of mode, something like a video game, except death is very real in this case.

KAGAN: So you are saying he takes it as a dare?

VAN ZANDT: I believe he takes it as a challenge. This individual is very focused. He's a man with a mission. He understands what he's doing. He's cool. He's calculating. That's partially because he's a psychopath...

KAGAN: Let me just jump in here one second. You say he's a man. Would you bet money on that?

VAN ZANDT: Yes, I would. I would bet money on it at this point, and the money I'm putting on it is not to say that women are not shooters. The money is to say that statistically, in the vast, vast majority of cases, men do it.

So if we don't know who it is, and we have to have a statistical fall back, we have to have a beginning point. The beginning point says this is a man. Now, could there be a woman driving him? Of course there could. This could be a Bonnie and Clyde, but right now, short of eyewitness identification that says, I saw this woman with long red hair leaning over a scoped rifle, we have to at least go with the starting point that it's a male.

KAGAN: Let me ask you this, when you were here with us yesterday, you said you were not surprised that he hit again that with Monday morning that he was back at work, as you said. Would you expect he's going to try yet again before he's caught?

VAN ZANDT: I do. And again, I don't want to give him clues or cues or anything else either, but I think law enforcement is doing what they have to do. You're going to see a tremendous influx of federal agents and resources in this area to protect our community. This is a highly solvable crime.

I like to believe within a week that law enforcement will be able to identify this person. Again, will I bet money on it? I'm betting on my associates in law enforcement that they're going to do their usual good job, but he will be back. This individual is a terrorist. I don't care if he looks like Mohamed Atta, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, he's there to terrorize us for whatever his reason. He likes it. This is his mission. This is emotional heroin for this guy, and he will be back and, unfortunately, I believe he will act again, and continue to act until law enforcement is finally able to arrest him.

KAGAN: Just real quickly, why do you feel comfortable with that time range of saying within a week, you think they will have tracked down this guy?

VAN ZANDT: Well -- I just -- no inside information. I just know that the law enforcement resources that are being thrown into our communities in the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, where normally a lead might take a day, six hours, a few hours to follow up on, they will be able to follow up in minutes on leads that are being generated in this case. There's already 1,250 substantial leads that have come out that law enforcement is chasing down.

They have executed search warrants. They are looking at every conceivable thing from a connection to the Michael's store where the first shooting and the seventh shooting took place, to who's out buying .223 caliber rounds. Everything that the community, everything that law enforcement can do in a case like this is being done. We're looking for a needle in a haystack, but this is a killer and this is someone who enjoys what he's doing.

KAGAN: Clint Van Zandt, thank you so much for your insights. Good to have you with us yet again.

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