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CNN Live Today
Police Received Phone Call about Man in Woods
Aired October 09, 2002 - 11:36 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have got more live coverage of that scene we looked at moments ago coming to us from Fort Washington, Maryland, where police there are searching the woods around a school because of tips coming in from an eyewitness.
Let's go check in now with our Patty Davis, who is now checking in live from the scene -- Patty, what are you seeing there?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, Prince George's police say that this morning, about 11 -- 8:11 a.m., they received a phone call from someone in the area saying that they had seen someone go into the woods, a man go into the woods behind me carrying some kind of case.
Now, police have blocked this road off. You can see behind me there are police in bulletproof vests who are standing there. They've blocked this road off. They have also blocked the road off on the other end while they look into what this tip might be.
Now, about eight to nine police cars here. We've been blocked off by some police tape on this side. Also, as I was driving up to this location, I saw a bunch of police cars in another nearby neighborhood, so they are checking this out to see if there's anything to this tip.
Now, police say that that is what this is at this point, just a tip. It does not appear that they have a suspect in this case, but when they get these tips, they need to check them out. They're getting thousands and thousands of these tips, and they say that is the key to this. They may be able to find this sniper if people keep calling in and seeing -- when they see something out of the ordinary.
Now, we are behind the Rose Valley Elementary School, an elementary school right on the main road there. That is where this park is located, right behind that, and we're told by school officials there that this school is on lockdown.
Now, that has been the case in Prince George's County, also the case in Montgomery County for the past several days, if not a week, when these sniper attacks started to happen. What that means is no recess outside, no outside activities. They are keeping the children inside. They are not allowing after-school activities. The school officials tell me that they're not doing anything in response to this, specifically, just keeping the lockdown in effect -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, Patty, can you give us some sort of idea of exactly where this place is in relation to some of the other places that we've been watching in the news from that area in the last few days? How far is this away from the school -- the Ben Tasker Middle School that we had on the news all day on Monday?
DAVIS: That is right. Well, that is in Bowie, Maryland. That is northeast of where we are, probably 15 to 20 miles. If you're familiar with Andrews Air Force Base, you've heard the president and the vice president have their airplanes there, this is about five or six miles south, a little bit southwest of that. So it's kind of around Washington, D.C. Beltway kind of on the -- I guess it would be the southeast corner down there off -- outside the Washington, D.C. Beltway -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Patty Davis reporting to us live from that scene in Fort Washington, Maryland. Thank you very much.
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 9, 2002 - 11:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have got more live coverage of that scene we looked at moments ago coming to us from Fort Washington, Maryland, where police there are searching the woods around a school because of tips coming in from an eyewitness.
Let's go check in now with our Patty Davis, who is now checking in live from the scene -- Patty, what are you seeing there?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, Prince George's police say that this morning, about 11 -- 8:11 a.m., they received a phone call from someone in the area saying that they had seen someone go into the woods, a man go into the woods behind me carrying some kind of case.
Now, police have blocked this road off. You can see behind me there are police in bulletproof vests who are standing there. They've blocked this road off. They have also blocked the road off on the other end while they look into what this tip might be.
Now, about eight to nine police cars here. We've been blocked off by some police tape on this side. Also, as I was driving up to this location, I saw a bunch of police cars in another nearby neighborhood, so they are checking this out to see if there's anything to this tip.
Now, police say that that is what this is at this point, just a tip. It does not appear that they have a suspect in this case, but when they get these tips, they need to check them out. They're getting thousands and thousands of these tips, and they say that is the key to this. They may be able to find this sniper if people keep calling in and seeing -- when they see something out of the ordinary.
Now, we are behind the Rose Valley Elementary School, an elementary school right on the main road there. That is where this park is located, right behind that, and we're told by school officials there that this school is on lockdown.
Now, that has been the case in Prince George's County, also the case in Montgomery County for the past several days, if not a week, when these sniper attacks started to happen. What that means is no recess outside, no outside activities. They are keeping the children inside. They are not allowing after-school activities. The school officials tell me that they're not doing anything in response to this, specifically, just keeping the lockdown in effect -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, Patty, can you give us some sort of idea of exactly where this place is in relation to some of the other places that we've been watching in the news from that area in the last few days? How far is this away from the school -- the Ben Tasker Middle School that we had on the news all day on Monday?
DAVIS: That is right. Well, that is in Bowie, Maryland. That is northeast of where we are, probably 15 to 20 miles. If you're familiar with Andrews Air Force Base, you've heard the president and the vice president have their airplanes there, this is about five or six miles south, a little bit southwest of that. So it's kind of around Washington, D.C. Beltway kind of on the -- I guess it would be the southeast corner down there off -- outside the Washington, D.C. Beltway -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Patty Davis reporting to us live from that scene in Fort Washington, Maryland. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
