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CNN Live Today
Sniper on Loose: Message From Killer?
Aired October 23, 2002 - 12:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin, though, with another cryptic letter found near the site of yesterday's killing. How likely is it to be from the sniper?
CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been looking into that for us, and she joins us now live from our Washington bureau -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you said, sources say that there was, indeed, another letter found nearby the vicinity where the shooting took place of the bus driver. The note was described to me as being similar in nature to the note that was left in Virginia at the last confirmed shooting.
Investigators, as you know, have been operating all along under the premise that this shooting was, indeed, connected to the sniper attacks. I am told by sources that that letter was recovered late afternoon, similar to the previous letter or what was in the previous letter that was found.
Well, we know that the big headline is that the letter included a threat in a P.S., saying, your children are not safe any more at anytime.
The writer of the letter alleges that he tried to contact authorities six times and was hung up on. He said that law enforcement was incompetent, and as a result of that, that five people had to die.
Law enforcement sources that I spoke to this morning do confirm that they know of at least two attempts, they believe to be attempts by the sniper to communicate in which the call may have been mishandled, because the recipient of the call just did not realize exactly what they were dealing with.
And to offer some perspective here, there are thousands of phone calls coming into that tip line every day, lots of people confessing on those calls, a lot of people calling in saying, "I am God," because that was written on the tarot card.
It was also a line that was placed in the note that was found in Virginia. In both of those pieces of communication, the writer refers to himself as "God."
So, lots of tips coming in like this all of the time, but they do concede that at least two calls were mishandled.
The note is at least three pages long. It was single-spaced, handwritten, lots of grammatical error, very stilted writing. And, you know, obviously that still remains in analysis, this new note at the FBI lab for analysis, but still again waiting for the ballistics evidence to tie this whole thing together, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelli, I don't know if you know the answer to this, but it's a question I'm sure that is certainly going to be asked. There have now been some three handwritten notes in Prince George's County outside that middle school where the 13-year-old boy was shot, at the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, and now near the Silver Spring bus station where this third note was found.
Have they determined that the handwriting on these notes are written by the same person?
ARENA: Well, that's what was curious, Wolf, because the sources that I spoke to about the second communication -- because first, was the tarot card, the second was there was one left in Bowie Maryland, and the third is the one that was just found by the bus driver shooting. The second one and the first one, the tarot card, at least according to my sources, did not match. The handwriting did not match. But there were specific phrases and words that were used in both of those communications that convinced investigators that it was, indeed, coming from the same person.
Now, is that a case of someone trying to disguise their writing? Is that a case of a possible accomplice? All of these are theories, lots of speculation. The investigation, of course, is ongoing, but I can tell you -- and I do not have anyone talking to me about the handwriting on the third communication yet. If we get that, of course, we'll update you.
BLITZER: Kelli Arena on top of this story for us once again. Thanks very much.
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 23, 2002 - 12:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin, though, with another cryptic letter found near the site of yesterday's killing. How likely is it to be from the sniper?
CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been looking into that for us, and she joins us now live from our Washington bureau -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you said, sources say that there was, indeed, another letter found nearby the vicinity where the shooting took place of the bus driver. The note was described to me as being similar in nature to the note that was left in Virginia at the last confirmed shooting.
Investigators, as you know, have been operating all along under the premise that this shooting was, indeed, connected to the sniper attacks. I am told by sources that that letter was recovered late afternoon, similar to the previous letter or what was in the previous letter that was found.
Well, we know that the big headline is that the letter included a threat in a P.S., saying, your children are not safe any more at anytime.
The writer of the letter alleges that he tried to contact authorities six times and was hung up on. He said that law enforcement was incompetent, and as a result of that, that five people had to die.
Law enforcement sources that I spoke to this morning do confirm that they know of at least two attempts, they believe to be attempts by the sniper to communicate in which the call may have been mishandled, because the recipient of the call just did not realize exactly what they were dealing with.
And to offer some perspective here, there are thousands of phone calls coming into that tip line every day, lots of people confessing on those calls, a lot of people calling in saying, "I am God," because that was written on the tarot card.
It was also a line that was placed in the note that was found in Virginia. In both of those pieces of communication, the writer refers to himself as "God."
So, lots of tips coming in like this all of the time, but they do concede that at least two calls were mishandled.
The note is at least three pages long. It was single-spaced, handwritten, lots of grammatical error, very stilted writing. And, you know, obviously that still remains in analysis, this new note at the FBI lab for analysis, but still again waiting for the ballistics evidence to tie this whole thing together, Wolf.
BLITZER: Kelli, I don't know if you know the answer to this, but it's a question I'm sure that is certainly going to be asked. There have now been some three handwritten notes in Prince George's County outside that middle school where the 13-year-old boy was shot, at the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, and now near the Silver Spring bus station where this third note was found.
Have they determined that the handwriting on these notes are written by the same person?
ARENA: Well, that's what was curious, Wolf, because the sources that I spoke to about the second communication -- because first, was the tarot card, the second was there was one left in Bowie Maryland, and the third is the one that was just found by the bus driver shooting. The second one and the first one, the tarot card, at least according to my sources, did not match. The handwriting did not match. But there were specific phrases and words that were used in both of those communications that convinced investigators that it was, indeed, coming from the same person.
Now, is that a case of someone trying to disguise their writing? Is that a case of a possible accomplice? All of these are theories, lots of speculation. The investigation, of course, is ongoing, but I can tell you -- and I do not have anyone talking to me about the handwriting on the third communication yet. If we get that, of course, we'll update you.
BLITZER: Kelli Arena on top of this story for us once again. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
