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American Morning

Misleading Sniper Witness

Aired October 18, 2002 - 07:02   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the scene, though, at that Home Depot from Monday night, investigators by the dozens turned yesterday back to that scene to search for new clues.
And Bob Franken was there at Falls Church, Virginia, right in that parking lot of the Home Depot.

Bob -- good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And where they are now is in the, they-don't-know phase. They were operating on the theory that the van had been parked -- the sniper's van had been parked in that garage. Well, of course, that's been called into question.

You will see over there a police surveyor. They are mapping this entire area. That man who is on the yellow tripod is mapping the garage, every inch of the garage.

They have also mapped the area all around here. They have mapped the area inside the garage, outside the garage. They are also talking about expanding the investigation, which is what they did yesterday. They went into the median strip right in front of me. They went across the street. You can see the parking lot there. You can see grassy areas there.

We witnessed a whole phalanx of police recruits -- it's become a familiar scene -- on their knees literally scouring every bit of the area over there. They were looking for anything that they could find on the ground. They were stopping cars, literally looking underneath the cars at all times, trying to see if they could come up with evidence that might, in fact, show that the sniper was operating from across the street as opposed to the garage.

The simple fact of the matter is that they do not know, Bill, where the sniper was positioned. The investigation, as a result, is back to ground zero. Just about everything has been called into question, because they relied so heavily on that particular one so- called eyewitness, which turned out to be not an eyewitness.

They call into question now the description of the van. He said that it was an Astro van, a cream-colored van, with a broken taillight. That they now say was probably bogus. They are talking about the description of the assailant. He was described as an olive- skinned man. Now, they say that that was probably bogus. And of course, they're calling into question whether or not the position of the van was in the garage or across the street, as investigators now seem to think -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bob, is it a fact that this witness, this bogus witness, was inside the Home Depot at the time, and was seen on surveillance tape? Is that the case?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, yes, the police took the surveillance tape and were able to use that as part of the effort to break down his story. And also an indication of that was is that in the Home Depot store, he told any number of other people who were in there that he had seen what he told police he had seen, which turned out not to be true.

HEMMER: And now, you have to wonder why his story ever came out like this. Was it the $500,000 on the line? We shall see as the day progresses.

Bob, thanks -- Bob Franken, Falls Church, Virginia outside the Home Depot.

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 - 07:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the scene, though, at that Home Depot from Monday night, investigators by the dozens turned yesterday back to that scene to search for new clues.
And Bob Franken was there at Falls Church, Virginia, right in that parking lot of the Home Depot.

Bob -- good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

And where they are now is in the, they-don't-know phase. They were operating on the theory that the van had been parked -- the sniper's van had been parked in that garage. Well, of course, that's been called into question.

You will see over there a police surveyor. They are mapping this entire area. That man who is on the yellow tripod is mapping the garage, every inch of the garage.

They have also mapped the area all around here. They have mapped the area inside the garage, outside the garage. They are also talking about expanding the investigation, which is what they did yesterday. They went into the median strip right in front of me. They went across the street. You can see the parking lot there. You can see grassy areas there.

We witnessed a whole phalanx of police recruits -- it's become a familiar scene -- on their knees literally scouring every bit of the area over there. They were looking for anything that they could find on the ground. They were stopping cars, literally looking underneath the cars at all times, trying to see if they could come up with evidence that might, in fact, show that the sniper was operating from across the street as opposed to the garage.

The simple fact of the matter is that they do not know, Bill, where the sniper was positioned. The investigation, as a result, is back to ground zero. Just about everything has been called into question, because they relied so heavily on that particular one so- called eyewitness, which turned out to be not an eyewitness.

They call into question now the description of the van. He said that it was an Astro van, a cream-colored van, with a broken taillight. That they now say was probably bogus. They are talking about the description of the assailant. He was described as an olive- skinned man. Now, they say that that was probably bogus. And of course, they're calling into question whether or not the position of the van was in the garage or across the street, as investigators now seem to think -- Bill.

HEMMER: Bob, is it a fact that this witness, this bogus witness, was inside the Home Depot at the time, and was seen on surveillance tape? Is that the case?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, yes, the police took the surveillance tape and were able to use that as part of the effort to break down his story. And also an indication of that was is that in the Home Depot store, he told any number of other people who were in there that he had seen what he told police he had seen, which turned out not to be true.

HEMMER: And now, you have to wonder why his story ever came out like this. Was it the $500,000 on the line? We shall see as the day progresses.

Bob, thanks -- Bob Franken, Falls Church, Virginia outside the Home Depot.

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