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CNN Live At Daybreak
An Eyewitness Who Wasn't
Aired October 18, 2002 - 05:04 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: An eyewitness who wasn't, it's a major bump in the road for investigators searching for the D.C. area sniper.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live from the task force headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland with the latest on this -- good morning, Ed.
Now police are saying the description of the suspect is bogus, the description of the cream colored vehicle is bogus. Do we know much more about the man who gave police this phony information?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point it's not exactly clear if they know much more at all than they did before Monday's shooting. And what a difference this week has made. If you remember, Monday night the feeling coming out after that last shooting, if there was any kind of silver lining to that horrible event, was that the investigators in this case really felt that for the first time they were perhaps making progress in this case, that they had eyewitnesses for the first time that was, would be able to give them the kind of information that might be the first steps toward catching this sniper.
But over the course of the last several days, all of that information appears to have withered away, authorities now saying that the best witness that they had in this case was giving bogus information, the information about the suspect description, that perhaps he was an olive or dark-skinned man, that that is not the case; the information about the weapon was wrong, the information about where the shooting took place, that the suspect might have been inside that parking lot firing at Linda Franklin on that night, all of that wrong.
So investigators having to send out, again, a team of cadet, Fairfax County cadets, to go investigate through that area, trying to pick up perhaps if there are any more clues around that area. And it makes it much more difficult because so much time has elapsed from when that shooting happened on Monday night, particularly the cadets working the area directly across the street from the parking lot, Route 50, which is about 100 yards away, looking for evidence in that parking lot. That's an old school area and perhaps there might be some evidence to find in this area.
But that is what authorities are having to do, trying to pick up the information from this information, this bogus information that they had gotten from their witnesses.
Also, authorities here in Washington acknowledging that they will be questioning al Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They're saying that there is no official link and no reason to believe at this point that there's any kind of terroristic connection to these shootings, but they do feel that it's the most prudent thing to do to follow up and to check that angle of this potential story out. So that is something they will be doing, as well.
But here the feeling is that, the good news for the last week is that since Monday night there has been no more attacks, no more sniper shootings. But at the same time, the information they've been getting from these witnesses has completely fallen through -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, Ed, I can only imagine, since this man gave the people of Washington false hope, that many in Washington are very angry at him. Could there be charges filed against him?
LAVANDERA: Well, that was one of the things that they're looking at, the investigators here. Of course, they don't, I get the impression that they don't want to get bogged down in trying to pursue that, as well, when they have, quite frankly, a much bigger picture and a much bigger issue to deal with at this point, and that's catching the sniper, of course.
But they are saying that if they do feel that if this person intentionally misled them to a, in a harmful kind of way, that that is an avenue that they will consider pursuing at some point.
COSTELLO: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you very much.
We're going to get back to you later.
We wonder what you think about this. Do you think that bogus witness should be charged with something? Daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com.
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 18, 2002 - 05:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An eyewitness who wasn't, it's a major bump in the road for investigators searching for the D.C. area sniper.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live from the task force headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland with the latest on this -- good morning, Ed.
Now police are saying the description of the suspect is bogus, the description of the cream colored vehicle is bogus. Do we know much more about the man who gave police this phony information?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point it's not exactly clear if they know much more at all than they did before Monday's shooting. And what a difference this week has made. If you remember, Monday night the feeling coming out after that last shooting, if there was any kind of silver lining to that horrible event, was that the investigators in this case really felt that for the first time they were perhaps making progress in this case, that they had eyewitnesses for the first time that was, would be able to give them the kind of information that might be the first steps toward catching this sniper.
But over the course of the last several days, all of that information appears to have withered away, authorities now saying that the best witness that they had in this case was giving bogus information, the information about the suspect description, that perhaps he was an olive or dark-skinned man, that that is not the case; the information about the weapon was wrong, the information about where the shooting took place, that the suspect might have been inside that parking lot firing at Linda Franklin on that night, all of that wrong.
So investigators having to send out, again, a team of cadet, Fairfax County cadets, to go investigate through that area, trying to pick up perhaps if there are any more clues around that area. And it makes it much more difficult because so much time has elapsed from when that shooting happened on Monday night, particularly the cadets working the area directly across the street from the parking lot, Route 50, which is about 100 yards away, looking for evidence in that parking lot. That's an old school area and perhaps there might be some evidence to find in this area.
But that is what authorities are having to do, trying to pick up the information from this information, this bogus information that they had gotten from their witnesses.
Also, authorities here in Washington acknowledging that they will be questioning al Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They're saying that there is no official link and no reason to believe at this point that there's any kind of terroristic connection to these shootings, but they do feel that it's the most prudent thing to do to follow up and to check that angle of this potential story out. So that is something they will be doing, as well.
But here the feeling is that, the good news for the last week is that since Monday night there has been no more attacks, no more sniper shootings. But at the same time, the information they've been getting from these witnesses has completely fallen through -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, Ed, I can only imagine, since this man gave the people of Washington false hope, that many in Washington are very angry at him. Could there be charges filed against him?
LAVANDERA: Well, that was one of the things that they're looking at, the investigators here. Of course, they don't, I get the impression that they don't want to get bogged down in trying to pursue that, as well, when they have, quite frankly, a much bigger picture and a much bigger issue to deal with at this point, and that's catching the sniper, of course.
But they are saying that if they do feel that if this person intentionally misled them to a, in a harmful kind of way, that that is an avenue that they will consider pursuing at some point.
COSTELLO: All right, Ed Lavandera, thank you very much.
We're going to get back to you later.
We wonder what you think about this. Do you think that bogus witness should be charged with something? Daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
