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CNN Live Today

Did Sniper Attack Again?

Aired October 10, 2002 - 11:30   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: We have more now on our top story of this morning. Police trying to determine whether a man gunned down at a Virginia gas station last night is the latest victim of a sniper terrorizing suburban Washington, D.C.
For the latest on the investigation, let's check in again with our Bill Hemmer, who is in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Bill, this is exactly where we expect to hear the police briefing at the top of the hour.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, you're right, Daryn. We're just about 28 minutes away from that, and this is the way it's gone now for well over a week. We wait for these briefings to find out the latest, sometimes, tidbit of information, the slightest amount of information given out to the public. At times, it seems like, you know, the police chief will come to the microphone without much to offer. That might be an indication of how the investigation has gone, but it quite also might be the strong possibility that the police really want to keep the information close to their vest. But again, we'll have that for you at Noon, Eastern Time, within the next 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, Daryn, the big thing we're watching right now is this shooting again from last night in Manassas, Virginia, 8:15 local time, a 53-year-old man shot dead while getting gas at a service station.

Let's get down to Manassas and join Julie Parker. She is with WJLA. She's on the scene where, Daryn, you have been watching, frankly that videotape of that line of investigators walking up and down that parking lot.

Julie -- we say welcome to you here on CNN. What more have you learned so far today?

JULIE PARKER, CNN AFFILIATE WJLA REPORTER: Bill, I can tell you 15 hours into the investigation, the police activity here is starting to wind down. You'll see the FBI truck is still out here, the command post still set up, and a number of officers on the scene, but not quite to the extent that we have seen throughout this morning here.

Of course, Chief Moose earlier saying that the rain would make things difficult for police officers; indeed it has. We have seen scores of ATF agents and FBI agents combing over this area. They're using metal detectors to skim over the grass, and have cordoned off a large section of this busy road. We're along Route 234 in Manassas just off of Interstate 66. It's a heavily commercial area, like many of the other shootings in Montgomery County, a lot of gas stations, hotels, restaurants. And apparently, according to folks that I spoke with, this road was very busy last night.

I spoke with two women who are staying at this hotel; we're standing on their property now. They were outside at the time of the shooting, just two doors down from this gas station. They said they heard nothing, they saw nothing, and then all of a sudden, the police sirens began blaring and that's when all of the activity happened.

At that point, police moved in, closed off this hotel and a large number of restaurants in the area, told everyone who had been staying at the hotel for meetings and whatnot that they had to stay overnight, they could not leave.

And those same women told me that between 12:30 and 1:30 this morning, Secret Service officers came to their door, in fact, came to every room in this 125-room hotel, and asked them if they'd seen anything, if they'd heard anything, what they were doing at the time. And they occasionally would check in -- look over the guests' shoulder to check out the room that they were staying in.

HEMMER: Julie, if we still have you here, I want to follow up on two points, essentially.

No. 1, you mentioned Route 66. How far are you from the on-ramp for that road, No. 1? And No. 2, the ballistics testing that's being done, is that on-site or was that taken away to a nearby lab?

PARKER: Bill, we are about half a mile from Interstate 66, and this is, as I mentioned, a heavily commercial area, a lot of people in rush hour trying to work their way up to 66. That was the case this morning. There was a lot of attention focused on the media and the various police agencies set up.

The command post here is not only FBI, but it's also the ATF and the Prince William County Police.

Chief Moose said that ballistics work would be taking place today. They would hope to have the information by this afternoon, but police here, as you can imagine, aren't talking to us. I can't tell you precisely whether that ballistics work is taking place here or up in Montgomery County.

HEMMER: Julie, thanks -- Julie Parker of WJLA on-site there at that Sunoco station down in Manassas, Virginia.

Daryn, as we go back to you at the CNN Center, I just want to make you aware once again, I do expect the chief to be out here around Noon Eastern Time, which is about 25 minutes from now. We will have that, certainly, live for you when that takes place.

I'll tell you an interesting thing, Daryn?

KAGAN: What's that?

HEMMER: I just got here yesterday, and late yesterday afternoon into the evening hours here, I went past three different locations where three people had been shot and killed here in Montgomery County. I was really struck by how much traffic just was in these immediate areas, how busy the intersections were.

And the other thing, I had the sense before I came here that a lot of residents were essentially shut-in and staying away from going outside. It might be true at the schools, but it no way is near the case up and down the communities here. People are outside. They have not been paralyzed by the events at all. They do their chores, they go to the shopping mall, and certainly, there's a lot of cars up and down the streets -- just a small observation from here.

KAGAN: Well, that is good to hear, because that's when the terrorists win, when they affect how we live our lives.

Bill, you mentioned there is police news conference at the top of the hour, about 25 minutes away. We look forward to that.

I know you'll also be interested to listen in at 2:00 p.m. An uncle of the boy who was shot at the Bowie, Maryland middle school earlier this week, his uncle going to come out and make a comment. Of course, police are keeping secret still the identity of that boy to protect him. He's considered a witness in all of this.

The uncle not expected to answer questions, but he will be coming out of the children's hospital in Washington, D.C. to make comments, and a lot of support going to that family.

Bill Hemmer, thank you so much from Montgomery County.

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 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have more now on our top story of this morning. Police trying to determine whether a man gunned down at a Virginia gas station last night is the latest victim of a sniper terrorizing suburban Washington, D.C.
For the latest on the investigation, let's check in again with our Bill Hemmer, who is in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Bill, this is exactly where we expect to hear the police briefing at the top of the hour.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, you're right, Daryn. We're just about 28 minutes away from that, and this is the way it's gone now for well over a week. We wait for these briefings to find out the latest, sometimes, tidbit of information, the slightest amount of information given out to the public. At times, it seems like, you know, the police chief will come to the microphone without much to offer. That might be an indication of how the investigation has gone, but it quite also might be the strong possibility that the police really want to keep the information close to their vest. But again, we'll have that for you at Noon, Eastern Time, within the next 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, Daryn, the big thing we're watching right now is this shooting again from last night in Manassas, Virginia, 8:15 local time, a 53-year-old man shot dead while getting gas at a service station.

Let's get down to Manassas and join Julie Parker. She is with WJLA. She's on the scene where, Daryn, you have been watching, frankly that videotape of that line of investigators walking up and down that parking lot.

Julie -- we say welcome to you here on CNN. What more have you learned so far today?

JULIE PARKER, CNN AFFILIATE WJLA REPORTER: Bill, I can tell you 15 hours into the investigation, the police activity here is starting to wind down. You'll see the FBI truck is still out here, the command post still set up, and a number of officers on the scene, but not quite to the extent that we have seen throughout this morning here.

Of course, Chief Moose earlier saying that the rain would make things difficult for police officers; indeed it has. We have seen scores of ATF agents and FBI agents combing over this area. They're using metal detectors to skim over the grass, and have cordoned off a large section of this busy road. We're along Route 234 in Manassas just off of Interstate 66. It's a heavily commercial area, like many of the other shootings in Montgomery County, a lot of gas stations, hotels, restaurants. And apparently, according to folks that I spoke with, this road was very busy last night.

I spoke with two women who are staying at this hotel; we're standing on their property now. They were outside at the time of the shooting, just two doors down from this gas station. They said they heard nothing, they saw nothing, and then all of a sudden, the police sirens began blaring and that's when all of the activity happened.

At that point, police moved in, closed off this hotel and a large number of restaurants in the area, told everyone who had been staying at the hotel for meetings and whatnot that they had to stay overnight, they could not leave.

And those same women told me that between 12:30 and 1:30 this morning, Secret Service officers came to their door, in fact, came to every room in this 125-room hotel, and asked them if they'd seen anything, if they'd heard anything, what they were doing at the time. And they occasionally would check in -- look over the guests' shoulder to check out the room that they were staying in.

HEMMER: Julie, if we still have you here, I want to follow up on two points, essentially.

No. 1, you mentioned Route 66. How far are you from the on-ramp for that road, No. 1? And No. 2, the ballistics testing that's being done, is that on-site or was that taken away to a nearby lab?

PARKER: Bill, we are about half a mile from Interstate 66, and this is, as I mentioned, a heavily commercial area, a lot of people in rush hour trying to work their way up to 66. That was the case this morning. There was a lot of attention focused on the media and the various police agencies set up.

The command post here is not only FBI, but it's also the ATF and the Prince William County Police.

Chief Moose said that ballistics work would be taking place today. They would hope to have the information by this afternoon, but police here, as you can imagine, aren't talking to us. I can't tell you precisely whether that ballistics work is taking place here or up in Montgomery County.

HEMMER: Julie, thanks -- Julie Parker of WJLA on-site there at that Sunoco station down in Manassas, Virginia.

Daryn, as we go back to you at the CNN Center, I just want to make you aware once again, I do expect the chief to be out here around Noon Eastern Time, which is about 25 minutes from now. We will have that, certainly, live for you when that takes place.

I'll tell you an interesting thing, Daryn?

KAGAN: What's that?

HEMMER: I just got here yesterday, and late yesterday afternoon into the evening hours here, I went past three different locations where three people had been shot and killed here in Montgomery County. I was really struck by how much traffic just was in these immediate areas, how busy the intersections were.

And the other thing, I had the sense before I came here that a lot of residents were essentially shut-in and staying away from going outside. It might be true at the schools, but it no way is near the case up and down the communities here. People are outside. They have not been paralyzed by the events at all. They do their chores, they go to the shopping mall, and certainly, there's a lot of cars up and down the streets -- just a small observation from here.

KAGAN: Well, that is good to hear, because that's when the terrorists win, when they affect how we live our lives.

Bill, you mentioned there is police news conference at the top of the hour, about 25 minutes away. We look forward to that.

I know you'll also be interested to listen in at 2:00 p.m. An uncle of the boy who was shot at the Bowie, Maryland middle school earlier this week, his uncle going to come out and make a comment. Of course, police are keeping secret still the identity of that boy to protect him. He's considered a witness in all of this.

The uncle not expected to answer questions, but he will be coming out of the children's hospital in Washington, D.C. to make comments, and a lot of support going to that family.

Bill Hemmer, thank you so much from Montgomery County.

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