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CNN Live At Daybreak
Attempted Shooting at Convenience Store in West Virginia
Aired August 21, 2003 - 05:08 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: All right, we're going to take you live to Charleston, West Virginia, right now, as a matter of fact, to find out more on that attempted shooting at a convenience store.
Let's go to WSAZ's Raquel Dixon.
Good morning, Raquel.
RAQUEL DIXON, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
It is a scary scene for many people out here this morning. This is another shooting, a suspect sniper shooting. There were already three people that were killed within the last week and now people are wondering if the sniper has, in fact, struck again.
We spoke with one of the people who was shot at today. Luckily, no one was injured. Her mother told us that she and her boyfriend were coming to this gas station. They were just planning on picking up a newspaper. Since it was late at night, they had to line up to pay at the drop slot there and that's when they said shots were fired.
Once again, they did not hit anyone. They ricocheted off a building.
We're going to show you pictures from the crime scene when police first arrived. You can see they combed the area looking for evidence. They searched with flashlights. They also brought in a search dog to sniff out extra clues.
Witnesses called police immediately after the shooting and they started a high speed pursuit, looking for the driver of the vehicle where the shots were fired from.
You can see the interstate entrance is just a few feet away from the gas station here and police won't confirm this, but the teenaged girl insists that shots came from a maroon pickup.
Now, that is the same truck police have described from the other shootings. Remember, the first victim was Gary Carrier, Jr. He was shot outside a Go Mart in Charleston more than a week ago. Then exactly one week ago, Jeanie Patton was shot outside a Speedway in Campbell's Creek. An hour and a half later, Okey Meadows, Jr., the same evening, was shot and killed outside a Go Mart and Cedar Grove.
Now, right now what police are telling us is that they followed the truck from here in Dunbar onto the interstate, onto Route 60, which is a rural part of this area. They followed it into two different counties and then they unfortunately lost the truck. They got the state police helicopter to follow it, but right now I think they have lost their lead and they're still trying to regroup and find the suspect.
COSTELLO: Let's go back just a little bit, Raquel.
Did police find the bullet?
DIXON: Right now police searched the parking lot. They're trying to find out exactly where the bullets landed, because, like we said, they didn't hit a victim. They wouldn't tell us anything. They were very tight-lipped this morning. We did see them looking at various poles. They believe it ricocheted off something. Now, they won't tell us what ballistic evidence they have so far. And so far we're still waiting for evidence from them to link all three of these shootings together.
At this point, they just have ballistic evidence to link two of the shootings to the same gun.
COSTELLO: Well, if this shooting is linked, that kind of blows their theory that this, that these, the past couple of shootings were drug related, right?
DIXON: Well, and I spoke with the mother earlier this evening. She insists her daughter is only 16 years old, she has nothing to do with drugs and her boyfriend didn't either. So she says there is no chance this could be drug related. This was very much just a random thing, according to this woman.
Now, the two, her daughter and the boyfriend said there was another person in line, so perhaps that person could have been a target. But right now the mother is very concerned and people in this area are very concerned because it does appear now, once had police thought originally that it could be random.
COSTELLO: Oh, really frightening.
Raquel Dixon from CNN affiliate WSAZ.
Many thanks to you for bringing us up to date on DAYBREAK this morning.
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 August 21, 2003 - 05:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to take you live to Charleston, West Virginia, right now, as a matter of fact, to find out more on that attempted shooting at a convenience store.
Let's go to WSAZ's Raquel Dixon.
Good morning, Raquel.
RAQUEL DIXON, WSAZ CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
It is a scary scene for many people out here this morning. This is another shooting, a suspect sniper shooting. There were already three people that were killed within the last week and now people are wondering if the sniper has, in fact, struck again.
We spoke with one of the people who was shot at today. Luckily, no one was injured. Her mother told us that she and her boyfriend were coming to this gas station. They were just planning on picking up a newspaper. Since it was late at night, they had to line up to pay at the drop slot there and that's when they said shots were fired.
Once again, they did not hit anyone. They ricocheted off a building.
We're going to show you pictures from the crime scene when police first arrived. You can see they combed the area looking for evidence. They searched with flashlights. They also brought in a search dog to sniff out extra clues.
Witnesses called police immediately after the shooting and they started a high speed pursuit, looking for the driver of the vehicle where the shots were fired from.
You can see the interstate entrance is just a few feet away from the gas station here and police won't confirm this, but the teenaged girl insists that shots came from a maroon pickup.
Now, that is the same truck police have described from the other shootings. Remember, the first victim was Gary Carrier, Jr. He was shot outside a Go Mart in Charleston more than a week ago. Then exactly one week ago, Jeanie Patton was shot outside a Speedway in Campbell's Creek. An hour and a half later, Okey Meadows, Jr., the same evening, was shot and killed outside a Go Mart and Cedar Grove.
Now, right now what police are telling us is that they followed the truck from here in Dunbar onto the interstate, onto Route 60, which is a rural part of this area. They followed it into two different counties and then they unfortunately lost the truck. They got the state police helicopter to follow it, but right now I think they have lost their lead and they're still trying to regroup and find the suspect.
COSTELLO: Let's go back just a little bit, Raquel.
Did police find the bullet?
DIXON: Right now police searched the parking lot. They're trying to find out exactly where the bullets landed, because, like we said, they didn't hit a victim. They wouldn't tell us anything. They were very tight-lipped this morning. We did see them looking at various poles. They believe it ricocheted off something. Now, they won't tell us what ballistic evidence they have so far. And so far we're still waiting for evidence from them to link all three of these shootings together.
At this point, they just have ballistic evidence to link two of the shootings to the same gun.
COSTELLO: Well, if this shooting is linked, that kind of blows their theory that this, that these, the past couple of shootings were drug related, right?
DIXON: Well, and I spoke with the mother earlier this evening. She insists her daughter is only 16 years old, she has nothing to do with drugs and her boyfriend didn't either. So she says there is no chance this could be drug related. This was very much just a random thing, according to this woman.
Now, the two, her daughter and the boyfriend said there was another person in line, so perhaps that person could have been a target. But right now the mother is very concerned and people in this area are very concerned because it does appear now, once had police thought originally that it could be random.
COSTELLO: Oh, really frightening.
Raquel Dixon from CNN affiliate WSAZ.
Many thanks to you for bringing us up to date on DAYBREAK this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
