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CNN Live At Daybreak
Man Shot, Killed in Manassas, Virginia
Aired October 10, 2002 - 05:42 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We were just talking about that shooting in Manassas wondering if it's connected to the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. area.
Want to go live to Manassas right now. We're joined by Lesli Foster with WUSA.
Leslie, what's the update, is there any?
LESLI FOSTER, WUSA-TV REPORTER: Well the update right now is that we're waiting for some additional information that is supposed to come from a news conference at about 9:00 a.m. What you can see behind me, though, is a lot of activity here at this scene in Manassas. The actual Sunoco station is about 150 yards from where we are right here. And as you've been hearing, there's a huge perimeter that's cordoned off around this area, huge crime scene here.
About a hundred police last night did a ground search looking for any evidence they could find in the case. Whatever they have found will be submitted to the ATF where they will do ballistics work. The special agent in charge of the Washington field office says that they are not going to rush, that they are going to take their time to determine whether or not this particular shooting, which has striking similarities to the other serial killing sniper attacks, whether these are indeed linked.
Now about 8:15 last night, as you know, police say a man was shot and killed by a single bullet at the Sunoco station here in Manassas. This is at Sudley and Balls Ford Roads, which is near I-66, a major thoroughfare in this area. Apparently he had just finished pumping his gas, was getting ready to leave and that's when police say the man was shot.
Now the victim at this point has not been identified, but police have said that that person does not live in this area. And of course this particular area where the gas station is has a lot of interstate traffic so it would certainly be understandable that this person may not be a local resident.
COSTELLO: Lesli.
FOSTER: Also last night - yes.
COSTELLO: Lesli, before we get to the rest,...
FOSTER: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... Manassas isn't exactly the crime capital of the world. It's a peaceful little town, isn't it?
FOSTER: It really is a sleepy little bedroom town just about 25 miles south of Washington, D.C. Not the kind of area that you'd think of as a hotbed for criminal activity, no, that's correct.
COSTELLO: And that's probably why they're - you know I see all those police officers and the FBI and the ATF behind you checking out this scene, that's why they're taking this quite seriously, at least one of the reasons.
FOSTER: Oh surely. And in addition to that, because there are some striking similarities between this particular shooting and the other serial sniping attacks.
Now we should say, again, as you've been saying, that we don't know whether these are connected at all. But as is the case when there have been these sorts of events that have happened around the area that have some sort of similarities, the task force that is working with different jurisdictions goes to each one of those things to check them out to determine whether or not they could be connected. So this is really protocol since those series of shootings started last Wednesday and that task force was formed.
COSTELLO: Tell us a little more about the victim, too. We know the man is not from that area. What else do we know about him?
FOSTER: That's really all we know right now. We know he's not from this area. We know he's a white adult male. But that's all that police are willing to give us at this point. Last night they were still making notifications to the family, and as you know, they don't tend to give that information out unless the family knows.
We do anticipate, though, at 9:00 a.m., once police have had a chance to regroup and put together the additional information they've been able to garner through the course of the night, that they'll be able to let us know something in terms of who this person might be, where this person is from and any additional information.
COSTELLO: All right, Lesli Foster, thank you very much for that update from our affiliate WUSA in Washington.
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 10, 2002 - 05:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We were just talking about that shooting in Manassas wondering if it's connected to the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. area.
Want to go live to Manassas right now. We're joined by Lesli Foster with WUSA.
Leslie, what's the update, is there any?
LESLI FOSTER, WUSA-TV REPORTER: Well the update right now is that we're waiting for some additional information that is supposed to come from a news conference at about 9:00 a.m. What you can see behind me, though, is a lot of activity here at this scene in Manassas. The actual Sunoco station is about 150 yards from where we are right here. And as you've been hearing, there's a huge perimeter that's cordoned off around this area, huge crime scene here.
About a hundred police last night did a ground search looking for any evidence they could find in the case. Whatever they have found will be submitted to the ATF where they will do ballistics work. The special agent in charge of the Washington field office says that they are not going to rush, that they are going to take their time to determine whether or not this particular shooting, which has striking similarities to the other serial killing sniper attacks, whether these are indeed linked.
Now about 8:15 last night, as you know, police say a man was shot and killed by a single bullet at the Sunoco station here in Manassas. This is at Sudley and Balls Ford Roads, which is near I-66, a major thoroughfare in this area. Apparently he had just finished pumping his gas, was getting ready to leave and that's when police say the man was shot.
Now the victim at this point has not been identified, but police have said that that person does not live in this area. And of course this particular area where the gas station is has a lot of interstate traffic so it would certainly be understandable that this person may not be a local resident.
COSTELLO: Lesli.
FOSTER: Also last night - yes.
COSTELLO: Lesli, before we get to the rest,...
FOSTER: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... Manassas isn't exactly the crime capital of the world. It's a peaceful little town, isn't it?
FOSTER: It really is a sleepy little bedroom town just about 25 miles south of Washington, D.C. Not the kind of area that you'd think of as a hotbed for criminal activity, no, that's correct.
COSTELLO: And that's probably why they're - you know I see all those police officers and the FBI and the ATF behind you checking out this scene, that's why they're taking this quite seriously, at least one of the reasons.
FOSTER: Oh surely. And in addition to that, because there are some striking similarities between this particular shooting and the other serial sniping attacks.
Now we should say, again, as you've been saying, that we don't know whether these are connected at all. But as is the case when there have been these sorts of events that have happened around the area that have some sort of similarities, the task force that is working with different jurisdictions goes to each one of those things to check them out to determine whether or not they could be connected. So this is really protocol since those series of shootings started last Wednesday and that task force was formed.
COSTELLO: Tell us a little more about the victim, too. We know the man is not from that area. What else do we know about him?
FOSTER: That's really all we know right now. We know he's not from this area. We know he's a white adult male. But that's all that police are willing to give us at this point. Last night they were still making notifications to the family, and as you know, they don't tend to give that information out unless the family knows.
We do anticipate, though, at 9:00 a.m., once police have had a chance to regroup and put together the additional information they've been able to garner through the course of the night, that they'll be able to let us know something in terms of who this person might be, where this person is from and any additional information.
COSTELLO: All right, Lesli Foster, thank you very much for that update from our affiliate WUSA in Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
