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Sniper on Loose: Police Briefing in Richmond Expected
Aired October 21, 2002 - 12:19 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: There are clearly some hopeful signs that perhaps -- perhaps there has been a major breakthrough in the search for a sniper or snipers.
Our Jeanne Meserve is standing by in Rockville, Maryland in Montgomery County. She's got some more details -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is, of course, an evolving situation, and officials do caution me that things can fall apart. A bird in the hand being worth two in the bush.
But I just spoke to a knowledgeable official, who is close to this investigation. He described himself as very optimistic. He said on a scale of 1 to 10 right now, officials feel they are at a 7. He said everything seems to be falling into place. They are very confident about what they have right now.
He would not give me specifics; he would not tell me chapter and verse about this arrest in Richmond and any possible connection to this case. But once again, the sense of pace, the sense of tempo definitely picked up. And at least from this one official, a sense that he's very optimistic -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And I've been hearing the same kind of things, the body language that we're getting the signals is, yes, this could potentially be a very, very important development. But I assume they want to be 100 percent certain that they have something before they go out and overly raise expectations.
MESERVE: That's right. That's why they say 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, not 10 on that scale of 1 to 10. That's why they do issue that caution, wait, wait, wait, things are still evolving, give us another hour or two, we will have more information for you.
But definitely, a different tone that we've been hearing in the course of this investigation thus far. At times, things have been eerily quiet; at times, they've admitted a lull in the investigation. But right now, things definitely picked up, and this one official, at least, telling me on a scale of 1 to 10, he's at 7 right now.
BLITZER: All right, 7, that's not so bad. That sounds pretty good. Jeanne Meserve, we'll be coming back to you obviously often.
And we are standing by, awaiting a news conference at the top of the hour in Richmond, Virginia. That might be the first moment we get some official word on what precisely is going on. We expect a news conference to follow in Rockville, Maryland, where the killings in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside of Washington occurred. We'll, of course, have continuing coverage of all of that.
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 21, 2002 - 12:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There are clearly some hopeful signs that perhaps -- perhaps there has been a major breakthrough in the search for a sniper or snipers.
Our Jeanne Meserve is standing by in Rockville, Maryland in Montgomery County. She's got some more details -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is, of course, an evolving situation, and officials do caution me that things can fall apart. A bird in the hand being worth two in the bush.
But I just spoke to a knowledgeable official, who is close to this investigation. He described himself as very optimistic. He said on a scale of 1 to 10 right now, officials feel they are at a 7. He said everything seems to be falling into place. They are very confident about what they have right now.
He would not give me specifics; he would not tell me chapter and verse about this arrest in Richmond and any possible connection to this case. But once again, the sense of pace, the sense of tempo definitely picked up. And at least from this one official, a sense that he's very optimistic -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And I've been hearing the same kind of things, the body language that we're getting the signals is, yes, this could potentially be a very, very important development. But I assume they want to be 100 percent certain that they have something before they go out and overly raise expectations.
MESERVE: That's right. That's why they say 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, not 10 on that scale of 1 to 10. That's why they do issue that caution, wait, wait, wait, things are still evolving, give us another hour or two, we will have more information for you.
But definitely, a different tone that we've been hearing in the course of this investigation thus far. At times, things have been eerily quiet; at times, they've admitted a lull in the investigation. But right now, things definitely picked up, and this one official, at least, telling me on a scale of 1 to 10, he's at 7 right now.
BLITZER: All right, 7, that's not so bad. That sounds pretty good. Jeanne Meserve, we'll be coming back to you obviously often.
And we are standing by, awaiting a news conference at the top of the hour in Richmond, Virginia. That might be the first moment we get some official word on what precisely is going on. We expect a news conference to follow in Rockville, Maryland, where the killings in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside of Washington occurred. We'll, of course, have continuing coverage of all of that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
