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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sniper Task Force Probes Falls Church Shooting Scene
Aired October 15, 2002 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Montgomery County, Maryland, police headquarters, where Chief Charles Moose is spearheading the sniper investigation.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is covering that angle.
Good morning -- Jeanne. And police seem to have witnesses now. They have descriptions of vehicles. Are they are any closer to solving this case?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little hard for us to determine that. They haven't been telling us much about the nuts and bolts of the investigation.
But from Chief Moose yesterday, before this latest shooting took place, word that progress was indeed being made. He told us not to be deceived by the small amount of information being put out publicly, that things were indeed working. And of course, it does help this investigation unfortunately though it may sound that they do have witnesses in this particular case that gives them more information to work on.
The one thing that's going to establish whether or not there is a link between this shooting and the other sniper slayings is the ballistics evidence. We do not know what they have recovered at the scene in Falls Church. If this case tracks the others, they will be doing an autopsy on the victim, trying to recover bullet fragments. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will then do an analysis of those to try and figure out if there's a link.
One of the other things clearly, which seems to parallel some of the other shootings, is the description of a light-colored Astrovan in the area. There was also a description of an Astrovan in Spotsylvania County, where there was a shooting last Friday.
Police have been telling us that they hope to put out a composite of that vehicle. We haven't gotten it yet, and it's unclear whether these events yesterday in Falls Church might slow down that process as investigators try and factor that information into the composite they are developing -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeanne, we also hear the police are getting literally thousands of tips by phone at their hot line. What kind of tips are they getting over the phone lines?
MESERVE: Well, they say a lot of them are credible. They aren't giving us the number of tallies anymore, as they once were. They do say that the composite of the white box truck that they put out over the weekend did prompt a lot of them.
And they still continue to request more tips. They have provided a consolidated tip line for people to call, people to communicate by e-mail. And yesterday, they also published a post office box. This intended to reach out to people who might feel uncomfortable either calling authorities or using e-mail -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Good enough. Jeanne Meserve reporting live from Montgomery County, Maryland this morning -- thanks.
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 15, 2002 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Montgomery County, Maryland, police headquarters, where Chief Charles Moose is spearheading the sniper investigation.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is covering that angle.
Good morning -- Jeanne. And police seem to have witnesses now. They have descriptions of vehicles. Are they are any closer to solving this case?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a little hard for us to determine that. They haven't been telling us much about the nuts and bolts of the investigation.
But from Chief Moose yesterday, before this latest shooting took place, word that progress was indeed being made. He told us not to be deceived by the small amount of information being put out publicly, that things were indeed working. And of course, it does help this investigation unfortunately though it may sound that they do have witnesses in this particular case that gives them more information to work on.
The one thing that's going to establish whether or not there is a link between this shooting and the other sniper slayings is the ballistics evidence. We do not know what they have recovered at the scene in Falls Church. If this case tracks the others, they will be doing an autopsy on the victim, trying to recover bullet fragments. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will then do an analysis of those to try and figure out if there's a link.
One of the other things clearly, which seems to parallel some of the other shootings, is the description of a light-colored Astrovan in the area. There was also a description of an Astrovan in Spotsylvania County, where there was a shooting last Friday.
Police have been telling us that they hope to put out a composite of that vehicle. We haven't gotten it yet, and it's unclear whether these events yesterday in Falls Church might slow down that process as investigators try and factor that information into the composite they are developing -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeanne, we also hear the police are getting literally thousands of tips by phone at their hot line. What kind of tips are they getting over the phone lines?
MESERVE: Well, they say a lot of them are credible. They aren't giving us the number of tallies anymore, as they once were. They do say that the composite of the white box truck that they put out over the weekend did prompt a lot of them.
And they still continue to request more tips. They have provided a consolidated tip line for people to call, people to communicate by e-mail. And yesterday, they also published a post office box. This intended to reach out to people who might feel uncomfortable either calling authorities or using e-mail -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Good enough. Jeanne Meserve reporting live from Montgomery County, Maryland this morning -- thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
