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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Special Edition: Sniper Attacks

Aired October 11, 2002 - 17:00 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, HOST: Has the serial sniper struck again? A new killing near Fredericksburg, Virginia ratchets up the fear factor. Police stop vehicles in a desperate effort to find the shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the classic sense because police are out all over the area doing this and there is too many, you know, places to tell you where they are because they're all over D.C. pulling people over right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: With Washington area residents looking nervously over their shoulders, the first lady is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: First, I'm thinking about the families who lost somebody and I know I can speak for all Americans when I send them our condolences and our love and our sympathy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is there any way to make contact with the shooter? We'll look at how criminals have communicated with police in the past.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: Sniper attacks. Reporting live from Montgomery County, Maryland, here's Wolf Blitzer.

Thanks for joining us. We're waiting for a news conference to begin here in Montgomery County. It's expected within the next few moments. We're expecting to get word on what law enforcement authorities are describing as some sort of visual aid, perhaps a graphic demonstration, graphic visualization of the suspected vehicle, some sort of vehicle that may have been used in connection with these series of deadly killings in the Washington area.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to figure out what happened just south of Washington today in Fredericksburg, Virginia this morning a sniper's victim perhaps the tenth victim of this rampage. We have two reports. Ed Lavandera standing by in Virginia for us, Kathleen Koch, she's here in Washington. Let's begin with Ed with the latest from Fredericksburg -- Ed. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we should say right off the top that this shooting here in Spotsylvania, Virginia which is about 60 miles south of Washington, D.C. hasn't officially been connected to the sniper shootings that have been going on the last nine days in the D.C. area, but the way authorities here have reacted to the shooting clearly seems to suggest that they are very concerned about what has happened here.

This is a huge crime scene that they have roped off and there's been quite a bit of activity since the shooting happened at 9:30 this morning so there are a lot of officers combing the area looking all over these parts for any kind of clues or evidence that might lead them to this killer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Thirty-seven hours after the seventh sniper murder, an unidentified Black male is killed at a gas station some 40 miles away from the last attack. Witnesses described hearing a single gunshot just like the previous sniper shootings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard something. I looked over my right shoulder and I saw a middle-aged gentleman running from the Federal Station next door towards the Waffle House looking as it he were literally under fire. He was crouched down. He was running towards us and he was shouting out that a gentleman had just been shot.

LAVANDERA: Moments after the shooting, an army of officers descended on the scene. Roadways were shut down as armed police pulled over several white minivans. Witnesses saw two people in a van similar to this driving away. The vehicle was said to resemble a Chevrolet Astro Van with a ladder rack on top.

Dozens of investigators are hunting for clues all around the gas station. Across the street, investigators pick up what appears to be a piece of paper and put it into a plastic bag. Evidence from the scene has been taken to an ATF lab in Rockville, Maryland for analysis.

MAJ. HOWARD SMITH, SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Obviously we're dealing with an individual that's extremely violent and obviously doesn't care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: We must stress that that piece of paper that we saw authorities picking up here, we're not exactly clear what that might mean at this point but one interesting note to add to the story, when the shooting happened at 9:30 this morning, there was a state trooper who happened to be across the street on a car accident call helping out when the shooting happened. That officer wasn't able to see anything that happened, just able to rush over to the shooting victim himself.

So, unfortunately that officer wasn't able to catch anything that was happening around the scene when the shooting happened at about 9:30 this morning and, Wolf, finally there is a press briefing scheduled for here as well at six o'clock Eastern time and perhaps more information will be available about this particular shooting in a little less than an hour -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ed Lavandera, he's on the scene for us in Spotsylvania County just south of Washington, D.C. We'll of course have live coverage of that news conference at the top of the hour once it begins. Meanwhile, thousands of tips are pouring into investigators and they're following up on more than 1,700 that have been deemed credible.

If you have any information you think might be helpful to this investigation police want to hear directly from you. The sniper tip line number is this: 1-888-324-9800. Let me repeat it, 1-888-324- 9800.

I want to bring in CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's with me now in Montgomery County just outside Washington where all these sniper attacks began. Kathleen the word is that once this news conference begins behind us, we'll be getting some sort of graphic aid. What do we know about that?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what we're hearing is that this graphic aid comes from the FBI, from the field lab, and it's something that they have put together. They're saying it's something they hope will jog people's memory. Perhaps someone was at one of these crime scenes and didn't realize that they saw something that was important. Law enforcement sources are telling us that it could be some sort of composite sketch of the vehicle or vehicles that have been used in these crimes.

Now one thing we're looking at also today is obviously the shooting in Virginia connected in any way to the sniper shootings? What we need there is some hard ballistic evidence. We're hearing that an autopsy on the vehicle will be performed tonight at some point so we're not likely to hear until tomorrow whether or not there is a link between these various shootings.

Obviously, the circumstances are very similar. We've got a single shot fired from a distance at a lone victim, the fourth shooting at a gas station, the fourth near a major interstate. An officer was telling me earlier, if it weren't for the early, the first cluster of shootings here in Montgomery County, they might be calling this the interstate killer.

Now, the search has risen to such a level here in the Washington, D.C. area that the president himself, word on the sniper shootings has become a part of his daily briefing and even the White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer has been asked about the shootings, whether or not they could be being committed by a group of terrorists to which he replied, we don't know if they are or not but it is clearly terrorizing the people involved and their families -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's terrorizing young people. A lot of students, the kids, a 13-year-old was killed earlier in the week in Prince George's County just next door to where we are right now. Talk about this lockdown that's gripped this entire area.

KOCH: Wolf, it's really frightening I think for a lot of the children. I know that my daughters, we live in Howard County, they've been locked in their schools literally every single day since last Thursday, so you're talking almost you know -- well more than an entire week now where these kids have been in school. They don't go out for recess. They don't go out for lunch, and the schools are trying to keep them safe.

This weekend they hope to go back to something like a normal schedule again having football games, pep rallies, and the like but a lot of that now because of this morning's shooting has been canceled.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, stand by we'll be getting back to you. We're standing by for a briefing from the Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose. He'll be accompanied by others. We'll get that so-called graphic aid. We believe it's an illustration of the suspected vehicle that's been used in these killings. We don't know that for sure but we believe that's what we'll be getting once that news conference, of course, begins. We'll have live coverage.

And ever since the killings did begin, the word "sniper" has evoked images of a monster on the hunt for innocent victims. That's a cause for worry and police military snipers who serve to protect. They also have unique insight into the shooter's mind-set. Keith Whitney from our Atlanta affiliate WXIA spoke with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE LAINHART: When a sniper goes rogue it's very hard to tell where he's going to strike next, on who he's going to strike next.

KEITH WHITNEY, WXIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Lainhart knows a thing or two about snipers. He is after all one of the best in the world.

LAINHART: You have really got to be cool and calm and you got to be very accurate. You can not afford to miss.

WHITNEY: Lainhart is a College Park police officer who's also trained with the Delta Force and the Navy SEALS.

LAINHART: Our mission is to save lives. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to take a life to save a life but that's our mission.

WHITNEY: Lainhart believes the sniper in Maryland is an amateur, possibly even one of the new breed of killer kids who were weaned on violent video games.

LAINHART: From what I've seen so far he's using pretty much textbook military type tactics. He has made some mistakes.

WHITNEY: While professional custom made sniper weapons can cost thousands of dollars, store bought rifles can be very effective as well. LAINHART: A hundred to 200 yards is basically if you put the crosshairs on a torso-size object the chances of missing are going to be about slim and none.

WHITNEY: Lainhart believes the Maryland killer's arrogance will lead to his capture and he hopes that detectives will call in expert snipers to help catch him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: That was Keith Whitney from our Atlanta affiliate WXIA reporting. We're going to go to that news conference now. Chief Charles Moose, the Montgomery County Police Chief, and Doug Duncan, the Montgomery County Executive, they're standing by now.

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: The shooting certainly looks similar but I know that there's also a lot of interest in terms of ballistics evidence when that forensics work will be done and so at this point I'll ask Special Agent of ATF Mike Bouchard to cover some of those specifics with regards to the testing for the question whether or not this shooting is indeed linked or not linked.

MIKE BOUCHARD, SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE ATF: Thanks, Chief. The ballistics evidence from this Spotsylvania County shooting has been recovered and will be taken to the ATF laboratory this evening. That evidence that was collected by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Department and ATF, FBI, and Montgomery County Police Task Force members.

As far as I know the scene is still being processed so we'll be looking for additional evidence. I do not expect to have a conclusion for you this evening so don't expect one please. Tomorrow morning's news conference we will tell you then if we can give you an idea when we will have an idea when that evidence will be examined.

So, in the interim, as you know we've been more than fair with you. We feel it's important to get it out to you as quickly as possible if these shootings are linked, but we want to make sure we're doing this properly. We're not going to try and rush it. Everyone is doing this methodically and they're going to make sure we have the right answer before we release it.

MOOSE: As has been reported, the lookout stands for the white van with the ladder on top. This is a white Astro van and certainly numerous white Astro vans have been stopped throughout the Washington Metropolitan area. I don't have an exact count on that number but I do want to stress that that white Astro van with the ladder on top remains a proper and appropriate lookout.

Earlier this morning, we talked about a graphic that would be prepared, distributed, and we'd ask you to assist us in the distribution of that so that we could have that to simulate someone's memory or thought and it is with great regret that I have to report that graphic is not finished and we will continue to work on that but we do not have it at this time and we still anticipate getting that finished product and then we remain hopeful that you will assist us in having that distributed.

At the same time, when we talk about the white Astro van and this morning's shooting, many calls have continued to come in. We thought we were over the education piece in distinguishing between a tip and a 9-1-1 call for service but what we found is that many, many people have called our 9-1-1 Center here in Montgomery County to offer tips and information about white Astro vans.

So, two messages certainly the tip number is 1-888-324-9800 and we again need people to understand the difference between the need for an emergency police response and a report of suspicious activity, report of citing on a white Astro van with a ladder on top or the report of any other tip, information about someone that was not at work during the incident, has not been keeping their schedule, has taken on some kind of attitude about the joy of all of these events, taking on some kind of anger toward the police. Anything that people consider a tip, we ask them to please call the tip line at 1-888-324- 9800, not to use the 9-1-1 emergency line for service.

If you need to have a police officer respond, if you need medical, fire, rescue, then please call 9-1-1. I don't want to get this message confused because many people do indeed expect an immediate police response or they need emergency fire rescue service and the 9-1-1 Center is there for that purpose and please use it.

But if you have a tip with regards to this situation, then we want you to use the tip number. If you think you are in the area of a shooting, then the proper use of the 9-1-1 system will be applauded. So, that difference, we have to continue to make that distinction because whereas this is in the minds of many people there are still people that need to use the 9-1-1 service and we want to make sure that those lines and those personnel are not bogged down with improper calls for service.

The next briefing will be at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. I'll take any question.

QUESTION: Chief, you said it would be proper to be on the lookout for that white van. Would it also be proper and appropriate to put credence in the reports of seeing two people in a white van?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I have remained committed to keeping any information that's called in to the tip line confidential so at this point we would just encourage people to focus on the white Astro van with the ladder on top.

QUESTION: How frustrating is it when you lock down the interstates within minutes of this shooting and still can't find this white van?

MOOSE: Well, sir again frustration is your word. We will continue to do everything in our power to get the person or the people involved in this situation into custody and that has not happened and so we will continue to work as diligently as possible. We are not frustrated.

QUESTION: Are you any closer to solving the crime, Chief? Are you any closer today than you were a week ago do you feel?

MOOSE: Well sir, that question are you any closer continues to come up every time we come here, every time I run into some reporters. We remain very hopeful that we are closer to bringing the person or the people involved in this into custody but we also continue to say that the person or the people involved in this should rethink what they're doing and should turn themselves in to law enforcement.

QUESTION: At what point in time would you consider releasing additional information?

MOOSE: Excuse me, sir, could you be respectful.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Are you now modifying your description and now saying (UNINTELLIGIBLE) white Astro van not that box truck?

MOOSE: No ma'am. I appreciate that question. That's a very good question. We have not eliminated the white box truck. We're simply saying that the call from Spotsylvania County for a white Astro van with a ladder on top is an additional vehicle separate from any other vehicle that may have been put out in relation to this situation. This is a vehicle related to today's incident.

QUESTION: At what point in time (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOSE: I missed the last part.

QUESTION: Since you have so many posted lookouts for the white cargo type vehicles, do you think that maybe the suspect is taking shots when a white vehicle appears at the scene?

MOOSE: Well, sir, maybe I really don't understand your question and we should try to talk offline. I don't want to speculate if that's what you were asking me to do. I think that would be inappropriate.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOSE: Well, sir, again I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the information that we get from the witnesses. We wouldn't ask for people to talk to us about a white Astro van with a ladder if we didn't think it was credible.

QUESTION: Can you give us any concept of the graphic at all? Is it a map? Is it a time line? Can you give any us any kind of guidance at all? I know you don't want to give any detail, but can you give us some kind of guidance?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I think that would be inappropriate to give any guidance. The people that are preparing that graphic don't have it ready so I haven't seen it and when we have it, we really need it to get out. So, I am certainly disappointed that we didn't meet today's time line but again not everything is going my way.

QUESTION: Chief, are you having any help from the Pentagon? BLITZER: The Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose reporting to us, to the news media the latest developments, disappointed that that graphic aid and illustration we have been led to believe would be released at this hour not yet ready, a special unit of the FBI Crime Lab working on some sort of illustration we believe of the suspected vehicle involved.

The police chief did say though that they are looking for a white van, an Astro van type of vehicle with a ladder on top. That was seen apparently leaving the scene of the Spotsylvania County incident earlier this morning, the police chief, Charles Moose, saying that it's still not possible to make a 100 percent confirmation that this latest incident near Fredericksburg, Virginia is in fact part of this shooting spree that has continued to plague this Washington area now for more than a week.

Earlier in this program I misspoke. I said that that 13-year-old boy in Prince George's County who was shot on Monday outside his middle school had been killed. Fortunately he is not killed. He's still in serious condition but he is alive and well and hopefully will make a complete recovery in the course of the next several weeks, indeed months.

We're going to have continuing coverage. We have much more to report to you on this continuing story. We've been talking a lot about the sniper killer but it's his victims who deserve the most attention. The brother of a man gunned down Wednesday at a Virginia gas station speaks out when we return.

Also, the first lady Laura Bush sounds off on the sniper killer. See part of my exclusive interview with her at the White House earlier today. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Whether or not today's fatal shooting near Fredericksburg, Virginia turns out to be one of the series of sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. region, it still is the fourth shooting in an area gas station over the past two weeks. Dean Harold Meyers was gunned down Wednesday as he was filling his tank in Manassas, Virginia. Today, his brother Bob talked with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MEYERS, VICTIM'S BROTHER: The interesting part of it was that I did watch the eleven o'clock news the night before, and of course the shooting took place at around 8:15 so the eleven o'clock news reported it but it was very sketchy and there was a little bit of footage and his car showed but I never thought that it was him and I wasn't paying that close attention to who it was.

I was paying close attention to what the story was and I made the comment that my they're shooting around, they've been shooting around where Dean lives in the Gaithersburg area and now they're shooting where he works in Manassas. And, what really happened was that he was working late that night on a project and just was going home late and ended up needing gasoline at the wrong place and the wrong time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bob Meyers says his brother was, in his words, a humble peace loving man who organized the July 4th picnics and brought the biggest gifts at Christmas.

With each new shooting the search for the killer becomes more urgent but how do investigators solve a crime like this? My next guest can offer some insight. Lou Hennessy is a former homicide commander of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. Lou, thanks for joining us. Well, where do they begin and how do they get to the bottom of this?

LOU HENNESSY, FORMER HOMICIDE COMMANDER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: Well, first, I think they're doing a pretty good job. They're limited the amount of information that gets out or at least are making a valid attempt to do that and that's important because there's certain information that they don't want getting out into circulation. That way when a tip comes in and it has that information that is only available to the shooter or someone who obviously has spoken with the shooter, they can immediately reassess the case and give that tip some priority.

They're going to need the help of the public and it really puts the police in a tough situation because they need to release enough information to the public not only to protect themselves but also to elicit their help. So they need to get some information out there but they don't want to give out so much information that when they eventually get tips in or they eventually make an arrest that they're not able to effectively interrogate somebody because they have no confidential information in which they can use to verify different fact.

BLITZER: At what point, Lou, does the FBI, the federal government step in and take charge of this investigation and become the lead investigator, if you will, as opposed to Montgomery County or Prince George's County or any of the counties in Virginia or the District of Columbia for that matter?

HENNESSY: Well, I don't think it's really as important as to who the lead agency is. Fortunately, in the Washington Metropolitan area all these law enforcement agencies have a lot of experience on multi- jurisdictional task forces, so this isn't an uncommon thing to them.

The reason that you need a lot of agencies involved in it is because each agency is probably getting information and they need to have a group of people that this information is funneled to so that they can extract the information that is important.

Unfortunately, in some instances, as the other day, when too many people get the information, some of it will leak out and that really hurts the law enforcement circle because it begins to drive wedges in between the communication between the different agencies.

It's going to be important that they get over that, that they go ahead and they continue to communicate and they work in a joint effort which I think they're very capable of doing and bring this to a successful conclusion.

BLITZER: What about witnesses, Lou? There are people who think they saw something, not sure they saw something? If you're an eyewitness to what you think is a shooting like this, what should you be looking for? What could be most useful to law enforcement?

HENNESSY: Obviously a description of the shooter and a vehicle if any type of a vehicle, if you can get a tag number of any identifying marks off of a vehicle, that's the type of information they need right now to really tie it down. But a direction of the vehicle, how many people were in the vehicle, the clothing worn by any individual and the vehicle, these are all things that would be extremely helpful in a very short order.

BLITZER: Lou Hennessy, former homicide detective with the D.C. Police Department, thanks for your insight. We'll have continuing coverage of the sniper on the loose and the tense moments on a major U.S. interstate. We'll take you to that highway. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We want few go back to CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's here with me in Rockville, Maryland at the headquarters of the Montgomery County Police Department.

The briefing we just heard from the police chief, not a whole lot of news. But he did make the point that they still can't make confirmation that this latest shooting in Virginia is related to this overall shooting spree. Tell our viewers why.

KOCH: Wolf, basically, since this particular victim was killed what they have to do is do a formal autopsy. Now, that is going to take some period of time. They probably won't be getting that bullet from the victim until late tonight.

And then at that point that will have to be taken to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lab, where it will be analyzed to see if the ballistics markings on the bullet match the bullets from the other shootings.

Another thing the police chief touched on was the fact that this graphing aid that we were expecting from the FBI is not ready. He said he is disappointed, because we need to get that out as quickly as possible. They think that's something that could help really jog people's memories who might have been on the scene of one of these shootings; might have seen something that they don't realize is important, and they're hoping this will help them.

The chief also talked about a van; a van that was seen apparently leaving the sight of the shooting this morning in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOOSE: The lookout stands for the white van with a ladder on top. This is a white Astro van. And certainly numerous white Astro vans have been stopped throughout the Washington metropolitan area. I don't have an exact count on that number, but I do want to stress that that white Astro van with a ladder on top remains a proper and appropriate lookout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: The chief says that they are also still on the lookout for this white box truck with two rows of block letters on the back and on the side and with a rollup rear gate in this area that was spotted at the site of one of the Montgomery County shootings; that that is still another vehicle that the killer or killers may have been using.

And the police chief also put out the word to people to only call the 911 line here in Montgomery County if they actually have a medical emergency. Apparently the all points bulletin for this van has got people throughout the area calling 911 with tips, and instead they want people to call that very important tip line that's consolidated for all right areas, bringing in the number.

So that's really what they want people to do, that 1-888 number. They say that's the place where you go when you have information on this case.

BLITZER: A desperate search. Thousand of law enforcement personnel on the search for this killer or killers.

Kathleen Koch, thanks for joining us.

And this morning's shooting still has not been officially linked to the sniper attacks. But that, of course, was the first thing that crossed all of our minds when the news broke, throwing the morning into chaos for hundreds of thousands of people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The reports began pouring in shortly after 9:30 this morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Listening in to some of our affiliates in the Washington, D.C. area, they say they're hearing of a possible shooting at an Exxon gas station. We have not confirmed that, however, but that is what we're hearing from our affiliates.

BLITZER: Reporters, officials and witnesses all told us what they had seen and heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see no van. I just heard the shot, and it was over.

BLITZER: Early on police could not link Friday morning's shooting to the sniper attacks, but the descriptions were eerie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were out front and we heard one single shot. And, of course, you know, we turned around and looked. And there's a white, unmarked van.

BLITZER: Local TV stations, networks, radio stations, all with continuous coverage of a terrifying situation.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There is a formal checkpoint where they -- Route 1 reduced to a single lane with as many as nine police officers there, one of them standing by with a rifle drawn. And they are checking every white van that comes through, even a white Voyager van with a young mother.

BLITZER: The description of the vehicle changed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Chevy Astro van, white in color with ladders on the back.

BLITZER: Breaking between 11:09 and 11:16 a.m., the worst possible news.

KAGAN: We're just -- unfortunately, we are just getting word here at CNN that the shooting that took place about an hour-and-a-half ago at that Exxon station, indeed, was a fatality. The victim has died.

BLITZER: The manhunt seemed to intensify.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Man, this has to be one of the most amazing highway manhunts in criminal history. Police between Fredericksburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C., about 50, 60 miles have essentially sealed northbound I-95, the main north-south corridor along the East Coast with roadblocks and police checks looking for that white van.

BLITZER: Schools locked down in the D.C. area, and the media tried to reassure parents but the tone of a simple advisory was ominous.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Please stay at work, stay at home. Do not go to the school to pick up your child. They're actually safer if they stay in the building.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush, of course, is receiving regular updates from the FBI and the intelligence community on the sniper situation. Earlier today, in an interview with me that will air on CNN's "LATE EDITION" the first lady, Laura Bush had some words of condolence and caution for the people of the Washington area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The sniper that's on the loose as we speak right now, terrorizing an entire community...

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: That's right.

BLITZER: ... the whole area. How are you dealing with this?

LAURA BUSH: First I'm thinking about the families who've lost somebody. And I know I can speak for all Americans when I send them our condolences and our love and our sympathy.

And also I think we really should support the law enforcement, the local law enforcement who are working so hard to try to catch whoever this perpetrator is. And that's, of course, what we all hope for, is that we can catch whoever it is and stop this.

But it is a very, very difficult time. It's -- since September 11 anyway, people have had to be vigilant, have had to be careful. And now, with this, I think it really does unnerve people and it gives a great feeling of anxiety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You can see the rest of this interview with the first lady, Laura Bush. She will be on "LATE EDITION" this Sunday. The program, of course, begins at noon Eastern. "LATE EDITION" Sunday, the last word in Sunday talk.

Coming up: a special look at how the most notorious killers have communicated with police and the news media during their killing sprees.

Plus: the former President Jimmy Carter wins this year's Nobel Prize. The CNN exclusive interview. Hear what he has to say about U.S. policy on Iraq.

I'll also speak live with the Montgomery County executive Doug Duncan. He's here with the late developments.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage of this killer on the loose. A Tarot card on which some one wrote these words: "Mr. Policeman, I am God" is the only message we know of that even may be from the D.C. area sniper.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on how criminals in the past have communicated with police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's part of the game, experts say. A letter, like a calling card, left by a serial killer.

New York's Zodiac killer wrote bizarre, rambling notes to police. So did Son of Sam.

Why did a guy like David Berkowitz, Son of Sam, feel the need to get in touch and communicate with you?

JOE COFFEY, SON OF SAM INVESTIGATION: It's a taunt. In fact, I interviewed him. I was the first one to interview him when we catch him. I interviewed him for three hours. And he responded to that very question. I asked him the question you just asked me: Why did you communicate with us? Because I wanted to let you know that I was beating you at your own game. He was taunting us. And that's what this guy is doing, if he's leaving notes.

FEYERICK: The note in question, a Tarot card, like this one, left near one of the sniper's shell casings in Maryland. On it, the message: "I am God."

PROF. EUGENE GALANTER, DIR, PSYCHOPHYSICS LAB, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Anyone who actually writes a note to the police that he or she is God is -- has serious psychological problems.

FEYERICK: But police are taking it very seriously. It appears to be the first contact between the sniper and investigators. Whoever left it asked that the card be kept secret. When it was leaked, an angry police chief seemed determined to keep the lines of contact open.

Detectives whose have tracked serial killers, Michael Cerovolo (ph) did the Zodiac, say there's an upside and a downside when killers try to make contact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to cause the investigators a lot of work because people are going to be starting to call in tips that really don't mean anything.

The upside, says Son of Sam investigator Joe Coffey?.

COFFEY: The communication always helps, because it gives you an opportunity to figure out what's going on in his mind.

FEYERICK: Criminal experts say the Tarot card, if it was left by the sniper, is the first deliberate piece of evidence placed at any of the shootings. If other Tarot cards have been found, police are not telling the media.

More difficult to decipher is what the card means. It's the death card. But Tarot experts say that means change and renewal, not death itself.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And as we continue to focus on the sniper shootings in the Washington D.C. area, we're joined now by the Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan.

Mr. Duncan, thanks for joining us. Is this like a delay, a stall? What's going on right now in the investigation, because it doesn't seem to be a whole lot of progress that is at least discernible to the public?

DOUG DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Well, there is an awful lot of progress that's been made. When we started a week ago, we didn't have a lot of information. We've gotten 2,000 plus credible leads from the public now.

So, we have a lot more information that we're now tracking down. So I think we've made an awful lot of progress, we're getting these leads, we're following through on them and we're eliminating a bunch of them because they don't pan out. But we then go to the next one and we follow that, and I think the fact that we have gotten so much information to the public they're doing their part of calling in, letting us know what we should be looking into is very, very helpful to us.

BLITZER: Is it -- but is it too much information? Because a lot of it is obviously is just a waste of time, dead ends.

DUNCAN: Well, I mean, clearly, we've -- out of the 1,800 credible leads -- 2,000 credible leads that came from roughly 9,000 calls. So we are widdling down the calls as they come in, identifying them as credible leads, giving them to the investigators, letting them then pursue them, make the decisions on what we need to do and what we don't need to do.

And they are -- they are working extremely hard. I mean, what's wonderful about this is just this unprecedented level of cooperation between all the federal agencies, state agencies and local agencies. And everybody is working as hard as they can to narrow these leads down. And -- people come in to work every day saying, "Today is the day we're going to catch him."

BLITZER: This latest shooting in Spotsylvania in Virginia, about 50 miles from here, it seems to have all the earmarkings, but you haven't been able to make 100 percent confirmation to that?

DUNCAN: Well, it's very similar. And -- when we -- there's a lot of different incidents in this region in our community. We try to determine very quickly whether the similarities are enough that we would send a team to this. We sent a team to this right away -- we've got the -- the ballistics evidence is back on its way to the ATF lab for them to do the analysis. And we should know -- they said they would let us know tomorrow morning when they will have the -- the confirmation that is part of this or not.

But it is -- very, very similar to what we have seen in the other shootings.

BLITZER: And we're standing by for this graphic aid, whatever that is, as well.

DUNCAN: The FBI special projects unit is putting together some graphic illustration of something that we want to give to the public, to let them -- sort of jar their memory and see -- help us identify something.

BLITZER: Doug Duncan, we hope you catch this guy or guys as quickly as possible. You think it's one or two or three?

DUNCAN: They're not ruling out any -- they're saying could be one. They're saying person or persons. And, so they're -- they've still got a lot of different options they're looking at. But they are narrowing down the leads and making a lot of progress here.

BLITZER: Doug Duncan, good luck to you and good luck to all your people as well.

DUNCAN: Thank you. Thank you very much.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

How does a Nobel Peace Prize winner feel about war with Iraq? The former President Jimmy Carter, in his own words, in an exclusive interview when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Rockville, Maryland, where we're following the deadly shooting spree that's been going on in this Washington area. We'll have more on that coming up. But once again, let's check in with CNN's Miles O'Brien. He's at the CNN center in Atlanta for some other news -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Wolf. After years of being the bridesmaid, never the bride, Jimmy Carter is this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The former president received the word early this morning in Plains, Georgia. A little bit later, he talked with CNN's Larry King in an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, my first thought was -- the reasons for it, and I noticed when they made this statement at 5:00 this morning that they gave full credit to the Carter Center, to the work that we have done in the last 20 years, Larry, for peace and for freedom and democracy and human rights and the alleviation of suffering. So I was very grateful for that recognition of what we are doing now.

The other thing that they mentioned, as you know, was the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, back about 22 or 23 years ago. So I was very grateful.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": What did President Bush say when he called?

CARTER: He congratulated me, said is was long overdue.

KING: Would you have voted nay or yea if you were in the Senate yesterday? CARTER: I would have voted no had I been in the Senate. I think that there is no way that we can avoid the obligation to work through the United Nations Security Council, to wait until we do get that condemnation of Saddam Hussein to force him through the United Nations to comply completely with inspections of an unlimited nature and to make sure that we do destroy all his weapons of mass destruction and his ability to produce nuclear weapons in the future. But I think it should all be done through the United Nations and not unilaterally by the United States.

KING: Do you trust that the president, he said so in his speech the other night, will act that way?

CARTER: Well, yes I do, Larry. And one of the things I have said before, earlier this week, as a matter of fact, was that the -- the administration has come a long way in the last few weeks, because if you go back a month or so, you hear the -- the secretary of defense and the vice president calling for unilateral action, for bypassing the United Nations, stating that inspections have no role to play and that our purpose is to kill or remove Saddam Hussein.

And I think it is very significant that President Bush's statement the other night, which I watched very carefully, calls for dealing through the United Nations, for inspections as a primary priority, and acting with other countries.

So, the policy, as described earlier by his secretary of defense and vice president, has been modified dramatically and very affirmatively by the president, who I think has responded to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from the Congress and from concerns expressed by other nations around the world. I'm very grateful for what changes have been made in the policy.

KING: $1 million goes with this prize. What are you going to do with it?

CARTER: Well, I haven't decided for sure, but we discussed it briefly this morning when we found out about it. The money will almost all go to the Carter Center, Larry. And although we get a good bit of funding for specific projects, this will be a little bit more flexible so that we can act immediately to deal with threats to peace and human rights around the world. And so it will be kind of a flexible fund for the Carter Center to use in its ongoing work.

KING: You're the only man in history to use the American presidency as a stepping stone to greatness. Do you ever think of retiring, really retiring?

CARTER: Well, I'm 78 years old, I was last week as a matter of fact. And I see the end of my active life coming in the next few months or years, I don't know how long. We're still in good health. And we have cutback a great deal on our active role at the carter center. And we have cut back a great deal on our active role at the Carter Center, but we fill vacuums and go where we are needed, Larry. And my hope is and my prayer is that the work of the Carter Center will continue the next 25 or 50 or 100 years. And that's what we're working on now to make sure it is perpetuated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Former President Jimmy Carter, now Nobel laureate Carter giving CNN's Larry King his reaction to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That announcement came from Oslo, Norway this morning. Now back to Wolf Blitzer in Rockville -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Miles, and congratulations to Jimmy Carter as well. I'll be back with some final thoughts from Montgomery County, Maryland right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I've been a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland now for almost three decades. It's a beautiful area, beautiful community, wonderful people. The greater Washington, D.C. area is indeed an exciting place to live, although sometimes, right now one of those times, too exciting.

Remember the tension, the fear that gripped all of us in this area after 9/11, after the anthrax letter attacks, and now in the wake of these sniper shootings that have killed people in this area. Something none of us wants to have to live through again. Let's hope we catch this guy very, very quickly.

That's all the time we have today. Thanks very much for joining us. For Miles O'Brien in Atlanta, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Rockville, Maryland. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" with Jan Hopkins begins right now.

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 11, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Has the serial sniper struck again? A new killing near Fredericksburg, Virginia ratchets up the fear factor. Police stop vehicles in a desperate effort to find the shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the classic sense because police are out all over the area doing this and there is too many, you know, places to tell you where they are because they're all over D.C. pulling people over right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: With Washington area residents looking nervously over their shoulders, the first lady is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: First, I'm thinking about the families who lost somebody and I know I can speak for all Americans when I send them our condolences and our love and our sympathy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is there any way to make contact with the shooter? We'll look at how criminals have communicated with police in the past.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: Sniper attacks. Reporting live from Montgomery County, Maryland, here's Wolf Blitzer.

Thanks for joining us. We're waiting for a news conference to begin here in Montgomery County. It's expected within the next few moments. We're expecting to get word on what law enforcement authorities are describing as some sort of visual aid, perhaps a graphic demonstration, graphic visualization of the suspected vehicle, some sort of vehicle that may have been used in connection with these series of deadly killings in the Washington area.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to figure out what happened just south of Washington today in Fredericksburg, Virginia this morning a sniper's victim perhaps the tenth victim of this rampage. We have two reports. Ed Lavandera standing by in Virginia for us, Kathleen Koch, she's here in Washington. Let's begin with Ed with the latest from Fredericksburg -- Ed. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we should say right off the top that this shooting here in Spotsylvania, Virginia which is about 60 miles south of Washington, D.C. hasn't officially been connected to the sniper shootings that have been going on the last nine days in the D.C. area, but the way authorities here have reacted to the shooting clearly seems to suggest that they are very concerned about what has happened here.

This is a huge crime scene that they have roped off and there's been quite a bit of activity since the shooting happened at 9:30 this morning so there are a lot of officers combing the area looking all over these parts for any kind of clues or evidence that might lead them to this killer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Thirty-seven hours after the seventh sniper murder, an unidentified Black male is killed at a gas station some 40 miles away from the last attack. Witnesses described hearing a single gunshot just like the previous sniper shootings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard something. I looked over my right shoulder and I saw a middle-aged gentleman running from the Federal Station next door towards the Waffle House looking as it he were literally under fire. He was crouched down. He was running towards us and he was shouting out that a gentleman had just been shot.

LAVANDERA: Moments after the shooting, an army of officers descended on the scene. Roadways were shut down as armed police pulled over several white minivans. Witnesses saw two people in a van similar to this driving away. The vehicle was said to resemble a Chevrolet Astro Van with a ladder rack on top.

Dozens of investigators are hunting for clues all around the gas station. Across the street, investigators pick up what appears to be a piece of paper and put it into a plastic bag. Evidence from the scene has been taken to an ATF lab in Rockville, Maryland for analysis.

MAJ. HOWARD SMITH, SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Obviously we're dealing with an individual that's extremely violent and obviously doesn't care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: We must stress that that piece of paper that we saw authorities picking up here, we're not exactly clear what that might mean at this point but one interesting note to add to the story, when the shooting happened at 9:30 this morning, there was a state trooper who happened to be across the street on a car accident call helping out when the shooting happened. That officer wasn't able to see anything that happened, just able to rush over to the shooting victim himself.

So, unfortunately that officer wasn't able to catch anything that was happening around the scene when the shooting happened at about 9:30 this morning and, Wolf, finally there is a press briefing scheduled for here as well at six o'clock Eastern time and perhaps more information will be available about this particular shooting in a little less than an hour -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ed Lavandera, he's on the scene for us in Spotsylvania County just south of Washington, D.C. We'll of course have live coverage of that news conference at the top of the hour once it begins. Meanwhile, thousands of tips are pouring into investigators and they're following up on more than 1,700 that have been deemed credible.

If you have any information you think might be helpful to this investigation police want to hear directly from you. The sniper tip line number is this: 1-888-324-9800. Let me repeat it, 1-888-324- 9800.

I want to bring in CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's with me now in Montgomery County just outside Washington where all these sniper attacks began. Kathleen the word is that once this news conference begins behind us, we'll be getting some sort of graphic aid. What do we know about that?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what we're hearing is that this graphic aid comes from the FBI, from the field lab, and it's something that they have put together. They're saying it's something they hope will jog people's memory. Perhaps someone was at one of these crime scenes and didn't realize that they saw something that was important. Law enforcement sources are telling us that it could be some sort of composite sketch of the vehicle or vehicles that have been used in these crimes.

Now one thing we're looking at also today is obviously the shooting in Virginia connected in any way to the sniper shootings? What we need there is some hard ballistic evidence. We're hearing that an autopsy on the vehicle will be performed tonight at some point so we're not likely to hear until tomorrow whether or not there is a link between these various shootings.

Obviously, the circumstances are very similar. We've got a single shot fired from a distance at a lone victim, the fourth shooting at a gas station, the fourth near a major interstate. An officer was telling me earlier, if it weren't for the early, the first cluster of shootings here in Montgomery County, they might be calling this the interstate killer.

Now, the search has risen to such a level here in the Washington, D.C. area that the president himself, word on the sniper shootings has become a part of his daily briefing and even the White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer has been asked about the shootings, whether or not they could be being committed by a group of terrorists to which he replied, we don't know if they are or not but it is clearly terrorizing the people involved and their families -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's terrorizing young people. A lot of students, the kids, a 13-year-old was killed earlier in the week in Prince George's County just next door to where we are right now. Talk about this lockdown that's gripped this entire area.

KOCH: Wolf, it's really frightening I think for a lot of the children. I know that my daughters, we live in Howard County, they've been locked in their schools literally every single day since last Thursday, so you're talking almost you know -- well more than an entire week now where these kids have been in school. They don't go out for recess. They don't go out for lunch, and the schools are trying to keep them safe.

This weekend they hope to go back to something like a normal schedule again having football games, pep rallies, and the like but a lot of that now because of this morning's shooting has been canceled.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, stand by we'll be getting back to you. We're standing by for a briefing from the Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose. He'll be accompanied by others. We'll get that so-called graphic aid. We believe it's an illustration of the suspected vehicle that's been used in these killings. We don't know that for sure but we believe that's what we'll be getting once that news conference, of course, begins. We'll have live coverage.

And ever since the killings did begin, the word "sniper" has evoked images of a monster on the hunt for innocent victims. That's a cause for worry and police military snipers who serve to protect. They also have unique insight into the shooter's mind-set. Keith Whitney from our Atlanta affiliate WXIA spoke with one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE LAINHART: When a sniper goes rogue it's very hard to tell where he's going to strike next, on who he's going to strike next.

KEITH WHITNEY, WXIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Lainhart knows a thing or two about snipers. He is after all one of the best in the world.

LAINHART: You have really got to be cool and calm and you got to be very accurate. You can not afford to miss.

WHITNEY: Lainhart is a College Park police officer who's also trained with the Delta Force and the Navy SEALS.

LAINHART: Our mission is to save lives. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to take a life to save a life but that's our mission.

WHITNEY: Lainhart believes the sniper in Maryland is an amateur, possibly even one of the new breed of killer kids who were weaned on violent video games.

LAINHART: From what I've seen so far he's using pretty much textbook military type tactics. He has made some mistakes.

WHITNEY: While professional custom made sniper weapons can cost thousands of dollars, store bought rifles can be very effective as well. LAINHART: A hundred to 200 yards is basically if you put the crosshairs on a torso-size object the chances of missing are going to be about slim and none.

WHITNEY: Lainhart believes the Maryland killer's arrogance will lead to his capture and he hopes that detectives will call in expert snipers to help catch him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: That was Keith Whitney from our Atlanta affiliate WXIA reporting. We're going to go to that news conference now. Chief Charles Moose, the Montgomery County Police Chief, and Doug Duncan, the Montgomery County Executive, they're standing by now.

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: The shooting certainly looks similar but I know that there's also a lot of interest in terms of ballistics evidence when that forensics work will be done and so at this point I'll ask Special Agent of ATF Mike Bouchard to cover some of those specifics with regards to the testing for the question whether or not this shooting is indeed linked or not linked.

MIKE BOUCHARD, SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE ATF: Thanks, Chief. The ballistics evidence from this Spotsylvania County shooting has been recovered and will be taken to the ATF laboratory this evening. That evidence that was collected by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Department and ATF, FBI, and Montgomery County Police Task Force members.

As far as I know the scene is still being processed so we'll be looking for additional evidence. I do not expect to have a conclusion for you this evening so don't expect one please. Tomorrow morning's news conference we will tell you then if we can give you an idea when we will have an idea when that evidence will be examined.

So, in the interim, as you know we've been more than fair with you. We feel it's important to get it out to you as quickly as possible if these shootings are linked, but we want to make sure we're doing this properly. We're not going to try and rush it. Everyone is doing this methodically and they're going to make sure we have the right answer before we release it.

MOOSE: As has been reported, the lookout stands for the white van with the ladder on top. This is a white Astro van and certainly numerous white Astro vans have been stopped throughout the Washington Metropolitan area. I don't have an exact count on that number but I do want to stress that that white Astro van with the ladder on top remains a proper and appropriate lookout.

Earlier this morning, we talked about a graphic that would be prepared, distributed, and we'd ask you to assist us in the distribution of that so that we could have that to simulate someone's memory or thought and it is with great regret that I have to report that graphic is not finished and we will continue to work on that but we do not have it at this time and we still anticipate getting that finished product and then we remain hopeful that you will assist us in having that distributed.

At the same time, when we talk about the white Astro van and this morning's shooting, many calls have continued to come in. We thought we were over the education piece in distinguishing between a tip and a 9-1-1 call for service but what we found is that many, many people have called our 9-1-1 Center here in Montgomery County to offer tips and information about white Astro vans.

So, two messages certainly the tip number is 1-888-324-9800 and we again need people to understand the difference between the need for an emergency police response and a report of suspicious activity, report of citing on a white Astro van with a ladder on top or the report of any other tip, information about someone that was not at work during the incident, has not been keeping their schedule, has taken on some kind of attitude about the joy of all of these events, taking on some kind of anger toward the police. Anything that people consider a tip, we ask them to please call the tip line at 1-888-324- 9800, not to use the 9-1-1 emergency line for service.

If you need to have a police officer respond, if you need medical, fire, rescue, then please call 9-1-1. I don't want to get this message confused because many people do indeed expect an immediate police response or they need emergency fire rescue service and the 9-1-1 Center is there for that purpose and please use it.

But if you have a tip with regards to this situation, then we want you to use the tip number. If you think you are in the area of a shooting, then the proper use of the 9-1-1 system will be applauded. So, that difference, we have to continue to make that distinction because whereas this is in the minds of many people there are still people that need to use the 9-1-1 service and we want to make sure that those lines and those personnel are not bogged down with improper calls for service.

The next briefing will be at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. I'll take any question.

QUESTION: Chief, you said it would be proper to be on the lookout for that white van. Would it also be proper and appropriate to put credence in the reports of seeing two people in a white van?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I have remained committed to keeping any information that's called in to the tip line confidential so at this point we would just encourage people to focus on the white Astro van with the ladder on top.

QUESTION: How frustrating is it when you lock down the interstates within minutes of this shooting and still can't find this white van?

MOOSE: Well, sir again frustration is your word. We will continue to do everything in our power to get the person or the people involved in this situation into custody and that has not happened and so we will continue to work as diligently as possible. We are not frustrated.

QUESTION: Are you any closer to solving the crime, Chief? Are you any closer today than you were a week ago do you feel?

MOOSE: Well sir, that question are you any closer continues to come up every time we come here, every time I run into some reporters. We remain very hopeful that we are closer to bringing the person or the people involved in this into custody but we also continue to say that the person or the people involved in this should rethink what they're doing and should turn themselves in to law enforcement.

QUESTION: At what point in time would you consider releasing additional information?

MOOSE: Excuse me, sir, could you be respectful.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Are you now modifying your description and now saying (UNINTELLIGIBLE) white Astro van not that box truck?

MOOSE: No ma'am. I appreciate that question. That's a very good question. We have not eliminated the white box truck. We're simply saying that the call from Spotsylvania County for a white Astro van with a ladder on top is an additional vehicle separate from any other vehicle that may have been put out in relation to this situation. This is a vehicle related to today's incident.

QUESTION: At what point in time (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOSE: I missed the last part.

QUESTION: Since you have so many posted lookouts for the white cargo type vehicles, do you think that maybe the suspect is taking shots when a white vehicle appears at the scene?

MOOSE: Well, sir, maybe I really don't understand your question and we should try to talk offline. I don't want to speculate if that's what you were asking me to do. I think that would be inappropriate.

QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MOOSE: Well, sir, again I'm not going to talk about the specifics of the information that we get from the witnesses. We wouldn't ask for people to talk to us about a white Astro van with a ladder if we didn't think it was credible.

QUESTION: Can you give us any concept of the graphic at all? Is it a map? Is it a time line? Can you give any us any kind of guidance at all? I know you don't want to give any detail, but can you give us some kind of guidance?

MOOSE: Well, sir, I think that would be inappropriate to give any guidance. The people that are preparing that graphic don't have it ready so I haven't seen it and when we have it, we really need it to get out. So, I am certainly disappointed that we didn't meet today's time line but again not everything is going my way.

QUESTION: Chief, are you having any help from the Pentagon? BLITZER: The Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose reporting to us, to the news media the latest developments, disappointed that that graphic aid and illustration we have been led to believe would be released at this hour not yet ready, a special unit of the FBI Crime Lab working on some sort of illustration we believe of the suspected vehicle involved.

The police chief did say though that they are looking for a white van, an Astro van type of vehicle with a ladder on top. That was seen apparently leaving the scene of the Spotsylvania County incident earlier this morning, the police chief, Charles Moose, saying that it's still not possible to make a 100 percent confirmation that this latest incident near Fredericksburg, Virginia is in fact part of this shooting spree that has continued to plague this Washington area now for more than a week.

Earlier in this program I misspoke. I said that that 13-year-old boy in Prince George's County who was shot on Monday outside his middle school had been killed. Fortunately he is not killed. He's still in serious condition but he is alive and well and hopefully will make a complete recovery in the course of the next several weeks, indeed months.

We're going to have continuing coverage. We have much more to report to you on this continuing story. We've been talking a lot about the sniper killer but it's his victims who deserve the most attention. The brother of a man gunned down Wednesday at a Virginia gas station speaks out when we return.

Also, the first lady Laura Bush sounds off on the sniper killer. See part of my exclusive interview with her at the White House earlier today. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Whether or not today's fatal shooting near Fredericksburg, Virginia turns out to be one of the series of sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. region, it still is the fourth shooting in an area gas station over the past two weeks. Dean Harold Meyers was gunned down Wednesday as he was filling his tank in Manassas, Virginia. Today, his brother Bob talked with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MEYERS, VICTIM'S BROTHER: The interesting part of it was that I did watch the eleven o'clock news the night before, and of course the shooting took place at around 8:15 so the eleven o'clock news reported it but it was very sketchy and there was a little bit of footage and his car showed but I never thought that it was him and I wasn't paying that close attention to who it was.

I was paying close attention to what the story was and I made the comment that my they're shooting around, they've been shooting around where Dean lives in the Gaithersburg area and now they're shooting where he works in Manassas. And, what really happened was that he was working late that night on a project and just was going home late and ended up needing gasoline at the wrong place and the wrong time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Bob Meyers says his brother was, in his words, a humble peace loving man who organized the July 4th picnics and brought the biggest gifts at Christmas.

With each new shooting the search for the killer becomes more urgent but how do investigators solve a crime like this? My next guest can offer some insight. Lou Hennessy is a former homicide commander of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. Lou, thanks for joining us. Well, where do they begin and how do they get to the bottom of this?

LOU HENNESSY, FORMER HOMICIDE COMMANDER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: Well, first, I think they're doing a pretty good job. They're limited the amount of information that gets out or at least are making a valid attempt to do that and that's important because there's certain information that they don't want getting out into circulation. That way when a tip comes in and it has that information that is only available to the shooter or someone who obviously has spoken with the shooter, they can immediately reassess the case and give that tip some priority.

They're going to need the help of the public and it really puts the police in a tough situation because they need to release enough information to the public not only to protect themselves but also to elicit their help. So they need to get some information out there but they don't want to give out so much information that when they eventually get tips in or they eventually make an arrest that they're not able to effectively interrogate somebody because they have no confidential information in which they can use to verify different fact.

BLITZER: At what point, Lou, does the FBI, the federal government step in and take charge of this investigation and become the lead investigator, if you will, as opposed to Montgomery County or Prince George's County or any of the counties in Virginia or the District of Columbia for that matter?

HENNESSY: Well, I don't think it's really as important as to who the lead agency is. Fortunately, in the Washington Metropolitan area all these law enforcement agencies have a lot of experience on multi- jurisdictional task forces, so this isn't an uncommon thing to them.

The reason that you need a lot of agencies involved in it is because each agency is probably getting information and they need to have a group of people that this information is funneled to so that they can extract the information that is important.

Unfortunately, in some instances, as the other day, when too many people get the information, some of it will leak out and that really hurts the law enforcement circle because it begins to drive wedges in between the communication between the different agencies.

It's going to be important that they get over that, that they go ahead and they continue to communicate and they work in a joint effort which I think they're very capable of doing and bring this to a successful conclusion.

BLITZER: What about witnesses, Lou? There are people who think they saw something, not sure they saw something? If you're an eyewitness to what you think is a shooting like this, what should you be looking for? What could be most useful to law enforcement?

HENNESSY: Obviously a description of the shooter and a vehicle if any type of a vehicle, if you can get a tag number of any identifying marks off of a vehicle, that's the type of information they need right now to really tie it down. But a direction of the vehicle, how many people were in the vehicle, the clothing worn by any individual and the vehicle, these are all things that would be extremely helpful in a very short order.

BLITZER: Lou Hennessy, former homicide detective with the D.C. Police Department, thanks for your insight. We'll have continuing coverage of the sniper on the loose and the tense moments on a major U.S. interstate. We'll take you to that highway. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We want few go back to CNN's Kathleen Koch. She's here with me in Rockville, Maryland at the headquarters of the Montgomery County Police Department.

The briefing we just heard from the police chief, not a whole lot of news. But he did make the point that they still can't make confirmation that this latest shooting in Virginia is related to this overall shooting spree. Tell our viewers why.

KOCH: Wolf, basically, since this particular victim was killed what they have to do is do a formal autopsy. Now, that is going to take some period of time. They probably won't be getting that bullet from the victim until late tonight.

And then at that point that will have to be taken to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lab, where it will be analyzed to see if the ballistics markings on the bullet match the bullets from the other shootings.

Another thing the police chief touched on was the fact that this graphing aid that we were expecting from the FBI is not ready. He said he is disappointed, because we need to get that out as quickly as possible. They think that's something that could help really jog people's memories who might have been on the scene of one of these shootings; might have seen something that they don't realize is important, and they're hoping this will help them.

The chief also talked about a van; a van that was seen apparently leaving the sight of the shooting this morning in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MOOSE: The lookout stands for the white van with a ladder on top. This is a white Astro van. And certainly numerous white Astro vans have been stopped throughout the Washington metropolitan area. I don't have an exact count on that number, but I do want to stress that that white Astro van with a ladder on top remains a proper and appropriate lookout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: The chief says that they are also still on the lookout for this white box truck with two rows of block letters on the back and on the side and with a rollup rear gate in this area that was spotted at the site of one of the Montgomery County shootings; that that is still another vehicle that the killer or killers may have been using.

And the police chief also put out the word to people to only call the 911 line here in Montgomery County if they actually have a medical emergency. Apparently the all points bulletin for this van has got people throughout the area calling 911 with tips, and instead they want people to call that very important tip line that's consolidated for all right areas, bringing in the number.

So that's really what they want people to do, that 1-888 number. They say that's the place where you go when you have information on this case.

BLITZER: A desperate search. Thousand of law enforcement personnel on the search for this killer or killers.

Kathleen Koch, thanks for joining us.

And this morning's shooting still has not been officially linked to the sniper attacks. But that, of course, was the first thing that crossed all of our minds when the news broke, throwing the morning into chaos for hundreds of thousands of people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The reports began pouring in shortly after 9:30 this morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Listening in to some of our affiliates in the Washington, D.C. area, they say they're hearing of a possible shooting at an Exxon gas station. We have not confirmed that, however, but that is what we're hearing from our affiliates.

BLITZER: Reporters, officials and witnesses all told us what they had seen and heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see no van. I just heard the shot, and it was over.

BLITZER: Early on police could not link Friday morning's shooting to the sniper attacks, but the descriptions were eerie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were out front and we heard one single shot. And, of course, you know, we turned around and looked. And there's a white, unmarked van.

BLITZER: Local TV stations, networks, radio stations, all with continuous coverage of a terrifying situation.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There is a formal checkpoint where they -- Route 1 reduced to a single lane with as many as nine police officers there, one of them standing by with a rifle drawn. And they are checking every white van that comes through, even a white Voyager van with a young mother.

BLITZER: The description of the vehicle changed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Chevy Astro van, white in color with ladders on the back.

BLITZER: Breaking between 11:09 and 11:16 a.m., the worst possible news.

KAGAN: We're just -- unfortunately, we are just getting word here at CNN that the shooting that took place about an hour-and-a-half ago at that Exxon station, indeed, was a fatality. The victim has died.

BLITZER: The manhunt seemed to intensify.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Man, this has to be one of the most amazing highway manhunts in criminal history. Police between Fredericksburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C., about 50, 60 miles have essentially sealed northbound I-95, the main north-south corridor along the East Coast with roadblocks and police checks looking for that white van.

BLITZER: Schools locked down in the D.C. area, and the media tried to reassure parents but the tone of a simple advisory was ominous.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Please stay at work, stay at home. Do not go to the school to pick up your child. They're actually safer if they stay in the building.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Bush, of course, is receiving regular updates from the FBI and the intelligence community on the sniper situation. Earlier today, in an interview with me that will air on CNN's "LATE EDITION" the first lady, Laura Bush had some words of condolence and caution for the people of the Washington area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The sniper that's on the loose as we speak right now, terrorizing an entire community...

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: That's right.

BLITZER: ... the whole area. How are you dealing with this?

LAURA BUSH: First I'm thinking about the families who've lost somebody. And I know I can speak for all Americans when I send them our condolences and our love and our sympathy.

And also I think we really should support the law enforcement, the local law enforcement who are working so hard to try to catch whoever this perpetrator is. And that's, of course, what we all hope for, is that we can catch whoever it is and stop this.

But it is a very, very difficult time. It's -- since September 11 anyway, people have had to be vigilant, have had to be careful. And now, with this, I think it really does unnerve people and it gives a great feeling of anxiety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You can see the rest of this interview with the first lady, Laura Bush. She will be on "LATE EDITION" this Sunday. The program, of course, begins at noon Eastern. "LATE EDITION" Sunday, the last word in Sunday talk.

Coming up: a special look at how the most notorious killers have communicated with police and the news media during their killing sprees.

Plus: the former President Jimmy Carter wins this year's Nobel Prize. The CNN exclusive interview. Hear what he has to say about U.S. policy on Iraq.

I'll also speak live with the Montgomery County executive Doug Duncan. He's here with the late developments.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage of this killer on the loose. A Tarot card on which some one wrote these words: "Mr. Policeman, I am God" is the only message we know of that even may be from the D.C. area sniper.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports on how criminals in the past have communicated with police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's part of the game, experts say. A letter, like a calling card, left by a serial killer.

New York's Zodiac killer wrote bizarre, rambling notes to police. So did Son of Sam.

Why did a guy like David Berkowitz, Son of Sam, feel the need to get in touch and communicate with you?

JOE COFFEY, SON OF SAM INVESTIGATION: It's a taunt. In fact, I interviewed him. I was the first one to interview him when we catch him. I interviewed him for three hours. And he responded to that very question. I asked him the question you just asked me: Why did you communicate with us? Because I wanted to let you know that I was beating you at your own game. He was taunting us. And that's what this guy is doing, if he's leaving notes.

FEYERICK: The note in question, a Tarot card, like this one, left near one of the sniper's shell casings in Maryland. On it, the message: "I am God."

PROF. EUGENE GALANTER, DIR, PSYCHOPHYSICS LAB, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Anyone who actually writes a note to the police that he or she is God is -- has serious psychological problems.

FEYERICK: But police are taking it very seriously. It appears to be the first contact between the sniper and investigators. Whoever left it asked that the card be kept secret. When it was leaked, an angry police chief seemed determined to keep the lines of contact open.

Detectives whose have tracked serial killers, Michael Cerovolo (ph) did the Zodiac, say there's an upside and a downside when killers try to make contact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to cause the investigators a lot of work because people are going to be starting to call in tips that really don't mean anything.

The upside, says Son of Sam investigator Joe Coffey?.

COFFEY: The communication always helps, because it gives you an opportunity to figure out what's going on in his mind.

FEYERICK: Criminal experts say the Tarot card, if it was left by the sniper, is the first deliberate piece of evidence placed at any of the shootings. If other Tarot cards have been found, police are not telling the media.

More difficult to decipher is what the card means. It's the death card. But Tarot experts say that means change and renewal, not death itself.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And as we continue to focus on the sniper shootings in the Washington D.C. area, we're joined now by the Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan.

Mr. Duncan, thanks for joining us. Is this like a delay, a stall? What's going on right now in the investigation, because it doesn't seem to be a whole lot of progress that is at least discernible to the public?

DOUG DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Well, there is an awful lot of progress that's been made. When we started a week ago, we didn't have a lot of information. We've gotten 2,000 plus credible leads from the public now.

So, we have a lot more information that we're now tracking down. So I think we've made an awful lot of progress, we're getting these leads, we're following through on them and we're eliminating a bunch of them because they don't pan out. But we then go to the next one and we follow that, and I think the fact that we have gotten so much information to the public they're doing their part of calling in, letting us know what we should be looking into is very, very helpful to us.

BLITZER: Is it -- but is it too much information? Because a lot of it is obviously is just a waste of time, dead ends.

DUNCAN: Well, I mean, clearly, we've -- out of the 1,800 credible leads -- 2,000 credible leads that came from roughly 9,000 calls. So we are widdling down the calls as they come in, identifying them as credible leads, giving them to the investigators, letting them then pursue them, make the decisions on what we need to do and what we don't need to do.

And they are -- they are working extremely hard. I mean, what's wonderful about this is just this unprecedented level of cooperation between all the federal agencies, state agencies and local agencies. And everybody is working as hard as they can to narrow these leads down. And -- people come in to work every day saying, "Today is the day we're going to catch him."

BLITZER: This latest shooting in Spotsylvania in Virginia, about 50 miles from here, it seems to have all the earmarkings, but you haven't been able to make 100 percent confirmation to that?

DUNCAN: Well, it's very similar. And -- when we -- there's a lot of different incidents in this region in our community. We try to determine very quickly whether the similarities are enough that we would send a team to this. We sent a team to this right away -- we've got the -- the ballistics evidence is back on its way to the ATF lab for them to do the analysis. And we should know -- they said they would let us know tomorrow morning when they will have the -- the confirmation that is part of this or not.

But it is -- very, very similar to what we have seen in the other shootings.

BLITZER: And we're standing by for this graphic aid, whatever that is, as well.

DUNCAN: The FBI special projects unit is putting together some graphic illustration of something that we want to give to the public, to let them -- sort of jar their memory and see -- help us identify something.

BLITZER: Doug Duncan, we hope you catch this guy or guys as quickly as possible. You think it's one or two or three?

DUNCAN: They're not ruling out any -- they're saying could be one. They're saying person or persons. And, so they're -- they've still got a lot of different options they're looking at. But they are narrowing down the leads and making a lot of progress here.

BLITZER: Doug Duncan, good luck to you and good luck to all your people as well.

DUNCAN: Thank you. Thank you very much.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

How does a Nobel Peace Prize winner feel about war with Iraq? The former President Jimmy Carter, in his own words, in an exclusive interview when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Rockville, Maryland, where we're following the deadly shooting spree that's been going on in this Washington area. We'll have more on that coming up. But once again, let's check in with CNN's Miles O'Brien. He's at the CNN center in Atlanta for some other news -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Wolf. After years of being the bridesmaid, never the bride, Jimmy Carter is this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The former president received the word early this morning in Plains, Georgia. A little bit later, he talked with CNN's Larry King in an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, my first thought was -- the reasons for it, and I noticed when they made this statement at 5:00 this morning that they gave full credit to the Carter Center, to the work that we have done in the last 20 years, Larry, for peace and for freedom and democracy and human rights and the alleviation of suffering. So I was very grateful for that recognition of what we are doing now.

The other thing that they mentioned, as you know, was the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, back about 22 or 23 years ago. So I was very grateful.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": What did President Bush say when he called?

CARTER: He congratulated me, said is was long overdue.

KING: Would you have voted nay or yea if you were in the Senate yesterday? CARTER: I would have voted no had I been in the Senate. I think that there is no way that we can avoid the obligation to work through the United Nations Security Council, to wait until we do get that condemnation of Saddam Hussein to force him through the United Nations to comply completely with inspections of an unlimited nature and to make sure that we do destroy all his weapons of mass destruction and his ability to produce nuclear weapons in the future. But I think it should all be done through the United Nations and not unilaterally by the United States.

KING: Do you trust that the president, he said so in his speech the other night, will act that way?

CARTER: Well, yes I do, Larry. And one of the things I have said before, earlier this week, as a matter of fact, was that the -- the administration has come a long way in the last few weeks, because if you go back a month or so, you hear the -- the secretary of defense and the vice president calling for unilateral action, for bypassing the United Nations, stating that inspections have no role to play and that our purpose is to kill or remove Saddam Hussein.

And I think it is very significant that President Bush's statement the other night, which I watched very carefully, calls for dealing through the United Nations, for inspections as a primary priority, and acting with other countries.

So, the policy, as described earlier by his secretary of defense and vice president, has been modified dramatically and very affirmatively by the president, who I think has responded to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from the Congress and from concerns expressed by other nations around the world. I'm very grateful for what changes have been made in the policy.

KING: $1 million goes with this prize. What are you going to do with it?

CARTER: Well, I haven't decided for sure, but we discussed it briefly this morning when we found out about it. The money will almost all go to the Carter Center, Larry. And although we get a good bit of funding for specific projects, this will be a little bit more flexible so that we can act immediately to deal with threats to peace and human rights around the world. And so it will be kind of a flexible fund for the Carter Center to use in its ongoing work.

KING: You're the only man in history to use the American presidency as a stepping stone to greatness. Do you ever think of retiring, really retiring?

CARTER: Well, I'm 78 years old, I was last week as a matter of fact. And I see the end of my active life coming in the next few months or years, I don't know how long. We're still in good health. And we have cutback a great deal on our active role at the carter center. And we have cut back a great deal on our active role at the Carter Center, but we fill vacuums and go where we are needed, Larry. And my hope is and my prayer is that the work of the Carter Center will continue the next 25 or 50 or 100 years. And that's what we're working on now to make sure it is perpetuated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Former President Jimmy Carter, now Nobel laureate Carter giving CNN's Larry King his reaction to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That announcement came from Oslo, Norway this morning. Now back to Wolf Blitzer in Rockville -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Miles, and congratulations to Jimmy Carter as well. I'll be back with some final thoughts from Montgomery County, Maryland right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I've been a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland now for almost three decades. It's a beautiful area, beautiful community, wonderful people. The greater Washington, D.C. area is indeed an exciting place to live, although sometimes, right now one of those times, too exciting.

Remember the tension, the fear that gripped all of us in this area after 9/11, after the anthrax letter attacks, and now in the wake of these sniper shootings that have killed people in this area. Something none of us wants to have to live through again. Let's hope we catch this guy very, very quickly.

That's all the time we have today. Thanks very much for joining us. For Miles O'Brien in Atlanta, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Rockville, Maryland. "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" with Jan Hopkins begins right now.

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