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Police Careful in Investigation of Suspected Sniper Murder

Aired October 11, 2002 - 12:57   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.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: With the latest information, our reporter Michael Okwu is on the scene, right there at that gas station. He's joining me now live with more.
Michael, what are they saying and what are you hearing right now?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not saying very much. We're seeing quite a bit, though, Wolf. We're expecting Howard Smith with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office to give us a press conference very soon, to go over some of the details of this morning's fatal shooting, a shooting, by the way, that has not yet been linked to the sniper who has caused havoc in the Washington, D.C. area for more than a week now. But it seems to fit all of the, basically, the patterns that have been the case up to this point: a very, very busy commercial thoroughfare here, essentially, the intersection of Route 1 and I-95 here in Spotsylvania County, an Exxon station, a gas station. It would be the fourth such shooting at a gas station. It happened again about 9:30 this morning.

And what is happening now is that federal agents and state and local police officers have been combing the area with dogs, with hounds, essentially, looking for some sort of evidence. It's very clear they were looking at a gas station just across the street from the Exxon where the fatal shooting occurred this morning. And they've been looking in the general environment here.

I want to pan the camera over just for a moment because you'll see, again, even though this particular shooting has not been linked to the sniper shooting, this is an area that essentially fits the description of areas that have been targets in the past: a busy, commercial area with commercial spaces, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and a tree line. In fact, there is a tree line that I would say envelopes this area a good 320 degrees. We've known from law enforcement officials here that if, in fact, it's a sniper using a high velocity rifle with high velocity bullets that it may very well be able to fire from about 600 to 650 yards away.

We are hoping to hear soon from Howard Smith again, with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office. We will hear more from him soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michael Owku on the scene for us.

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




Murder>


Aired October 11, 2002 - 12:57   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: With the latest information, our reporter Michael Okwu is on the scene, right there at that gas station. He's joining me now live with more.
Michael, what are they saying and what are you hearing right now?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not saying very much. We're seeing quite a bit, though, Wolf. We're expecting Howard Smith with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office to give us a press conference very soon, to go over some of the details of this morning's fatal shooting, a shooting, by the way, that has not yet been linked to the sniper who has caused havoc in the Washington, D.C. area for more than a week now. But it seems to fit all of the, basically, the patterns that have been the case up to this point: a very, very busy commercial thoroughfare here, essentially, the intersection of Route 1 and I-95 here in Spotsylvania County, an Exxon station, a gas station. It would be the fourth such shooting at a gas station. It happened again about 9:30 this morning.

And what is happening now is that federal agents and state and local police officers have been combing the area with dogs, with hounds, essentially, looking for some sort of evidence. It's very clear they were looking at a gas station just across the street from the Exxon where the fatal shooting occurred this morning. And they've been looking in the general environment here.

I want to pan the camera over just for a moment because you'll see, again, even though this particular shooting has not been linked to the sniper shooting, this is an area that essentially fits the description of areas that have been targets in the past: a busy, commercial area with commercial spaces, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and a tree line. In fact, there is a tree line that I would say envelopes this area a good 320 degrees. We've known from law enforcement officials here that if, in fact, it's a sniper using a high velocity rifle with high velocity bullets that it may very well be able to fire from about 600 to 650 yards away.

We are hoping to hear soon from Howard Smith again, with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office. We will hear more from him soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michael Owku on the scene for us.

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




Murder>