Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Connie Chung Tonight

Sniper on the Loose: Police Search Washington State Residence For Clues

Aired October 23, 2002 - 20:00   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.


CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening, everyone.
We're following breaking news tonight: the search of a home in Tacoma, Washington, by federal agents. The search is related -- we do not know how -- to the investigation of the Washington sniper shootings. It's 2,400 miles away from Washington, D.C. And we only know a few details at the moment.

The home is in Tacoma, Washington. Police arrived there with ATF and FBI agents. They provided a grid on the backyard area. And they even have a backhoe there.

We have a neighbor of that house in that neighborhood, Steven Angell, on the telephone.

Steven, can you hear me?

STEVEN ANGELL, TACOMA RESIDENT: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: Steven, can you tell us, what time did the police, did the authorities arrive at that house?

ANGELL: I'm not even sure. They came in early morning with a fire truck. And then several cars right afterwards blocked off the street.

CHUNG: Do you know if there was anyone in the house and if any of those people might have been taken away?

ANGELL: I don't know. There doesn't appear to be anyone in there now. And from what I've heard, just following the news, is that they're actually looking for someone who was there before who doesn't live there anymore.

CHUNG: How far away are you from the house?

ANGELL: Not even half-a-block. You cross the intersection and it's two houses on the left. I can watch it from my driveway.

CHUNG: Did you know who lived there?

ANGELL: No, I don't. I've seen children playing in the front yard there, young children.

CHUNG: And a couple, man and woman?

ANGELL: I've seen one man out there before, but so sporadically, I don't know if he even lives there.

CHUNG: I see. How long have you been living there in this area?

ANGELL: I've lived there for nine months now.

CHUNG: I see. And do you know how long they have lived there?

ANGELL: I don't. Like I said earlier, on the news, they kind of briefly made the point that they're not even looking for someone who still lives there -- a former resident.

CHUNG: I see.

Were you able to witness any of the activity by the authorities there?

ANGELL: I saw more on the news than actually when I've been outside, just when they took a tree stump away and then this digging in the backyard. They had a chain saw.

CHUNG: Yes, we did read that report on our wire services. And that is that they did take a tree trunk. And do you have any idea of what that was about.

ANGELL: Just from what the news has said. And they're speculating that it's possible, from target practice with a gun, that there may be bullets or bullet casings lodged into the trunk for ballistic information.

CHUNG: Can you see the backhoe there?

ANGELL: Actually, I believe the backhoe, about 45 minutes ago was the last time I saw it.

CHUNG: Do you have any sense of exactly what the police, the ATF and the FBI are doing there?

ANGELL: There's really kind of -- they seem to be not even very serious, from what I've seen. They're not -- they kind of seem like they're wrapping up. They're not real on it, as in, when you go to it, they've got the streets blocked off, but they are not stopping people from walking back and forth. They don't seem like it's anything real pressing, more like information rather than finding the suspect right away.

CHUNG: But they've cordoned off the house?

ANGELL: Just the street where your car would enter at the beginning and the end of the block. There's no tape around the house or anything. There's actually a family, the duplex that lives next door, that I've seen the family still in their house next door.

CHUNG: How would you describe the neighborhood that you're living in?

ANGELL: It's a lower-income, very family neighborhood. There's lots of family, lots of military. We're not too far from the military base. It's the lower end of town, but there's lots of families out here.

CHUNG: Do you know if the individuals who are living there now had any knowledge of the people who were living there before?

ANGELL: I have no idea.

CHUNG: Is it all safe there, as you can determine? There aren't any guns drawn, or there were never any guns drawn at the beginning, were there?

ANGELL: No, not that I have seen. There have been no guns drawn at all. The police are not discouraging people from watching as long as they stay out of the way on the end of the block. There's actually quite a crowd looking. And everyone is excited. They are talking to reporters. And the cops aren't pushing anyone away. And it doesn't seem to be a real strong atmosphere of danger.

CHUNG: I see.

Well, search warrants were being issued. And we were cautioned that there have been many search warrants issued in connection with this case. Certainly, there have been 70,000 tips since the beginning of this horrible spree of shooting. And then we're also warned that this may not turn up any evidence.

But, apparently, you saw or you do know that a tree trunk was carried away. It was wrapped in plastic and taken away. Do you know if anything else was taken away from that home?

ANGELL: Not specifically, but, in the back of the U-Haul, when they did have it open a while ago, it was more than half full of that silver tarping wrapped around. You can't really tell what it is. But there were several things in the back of the U-Haul.

CHUNG: All right, Steve Angell, a neighbor, please stick with us. We'll come back to you in just a moment.

But, in the meantime, let's go to Jim Mattheis of the Tacoma Police Department.

Mr. Mattheis, can you tell us what's going on at that home, where we are told the ATF and the FBI are searching?

JIM MATTHEIS, TACOMA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, right now, our department is tasked with site security at a residence in the 3300 block of South Proctor, assisting the FBI with a search.

CHUNG: Do you know why the FBI and the ATF are there?

MATTHEIS: No. All of those questions are being referred...

CHUNG: Mr. Mattheis? All right, we must have lost Mr. Mattheis.

Let's go back to Steve Angell.

Mr. Angell, I was trying to talk to the police and try and find out. And the police spokesperson there that I was just talking to, a man named Jim Mattheis, was just telling us that he actually didn't have very much information, that the ATF and the FBI are there and the local police are assisting them.

Tell us about what you have heard, whether you, 2,400 miles away, were connected, in other words, listening to and keeping tabs on the Washington area sniper story. Or is it just something that you believe is happening on the other coast and you're not paying much attention to?

Steve Angell, can you hear me? Well, I guess we've lost both of them.

This is a day full of several developments. I'm sorry, once again, let me -- someone was just telling me something. OK.

This has been a day of several developments in the sniper story. We now know that there were two notes left by the sniper, one last Saturday at the shooting scene at the Ponderosa restaurant, and one left just at this latest shooting of a bus driver. Both notes contained demands for $10 million.

And, from what we understand, our sources are telling us and telling Kelli Arena, our Justice Department correspondent, that the sniper has apparently asked that the money be placed in a bank account with unlimited withdrawal capability. The writer also complained that he had tried to get in touch with authorities at least six times and was unable to and was even hung up on.

Authorities acknowledged that two calls were mishandled. Now -- all right, we do have some more information from Tacoma. Let's go back to Tacoma, Washington, where a house, a backyard is being searched by ATF and FBI agents and local police.

We don't know exactly the details, but let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night, around 9:00, we noticed two gentlemen with briefcases knocking on his door. He's got a lot of people coming and going, so we thought -- we didn't think anything about it. We saw their briefcases. We weren't quite sure.

But then this morning, at about 9:30, maybe 10:00, I noticed a group of about six people, individuals standing outside on my driveway. I just asked who they were. And they wouldn't let me know. So I called the police on them and later found out, a few minutes later, that they were FBI. And I informed them about the two gentlemen last night and they said that, no, that was FBI, too, last night, talking to him, probably getting permission to be looking in his yard. QUESTION: Did you ask if he was the target of an investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From what we've been told, he's not a suspect in any part of this. They are just questioning him, as if maybe he might know something. But he's not in custody. He's not under arrest, anything like that.

QUESTION: What can you tell us about him and how long he's lived there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he's lived there for about eight years. He owns the property and he rents out the other side. He's a nice guy. I don't see him very often. It's just kind of, "Hi. Bye." His little boy comes every once in a while and wants to pet our dog.

So, I've talked to him -- the most I've talked to him was when his car was lit on fire. And I just asked him -- it was kind of unsettling to have a car set on fire. And we just wanted to know. He said, no, it was just he was targeted. We didn't have to worry about anything. And other than that, I don't talk to him very often.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: So, a resident in the Tacoma area, his home is being searched by the ATF and the FBI. We don't know exactly why. But, apparently, this residence had been living here, according to the woman you just saw, for at least eight years, and he was being questioned by authorities. He is not being held. He is not considered a suspect either.

So, once again, the story that we are examining at the moment is that there is a house, a backyard that's being searched in Tacoma, Washington, 2,400 miles away from Washington, D.C.

Who we do have in Washington, D.C. is our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, who has been breaking many bits of information all day today and yesterday.

Kelli, what's the latest information you have now?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, apparently, what's going on here is, we know that there were search warrants being executed. That's obvious. We've seen the video. And we know that, for sure, this is in connection to the sniper investigation.

But we have been cautioned, Connie, by several law enforcement officials that there have been several search warrants executed in connection with the sniper investigation that have led nowhere. Now, obviously, to go before a judge, you need to present probable cause to get a search warrant, no matter how gruesome the crimes that are being committed. So they did have to go -- law enforcement did have to go before a judge with probable cause and say, "This is why we need to get into this property."

We have been working the phones here feverishly trying to find out what it is that they are looking for. We have been assured that at least it's not a body or bodies, according to sources. But we are waiting to hear, officially at least -- we were supposed to have a press conference here in Montgomery County, which was abruptly canceled upon the video running of the search that was being done.

We have not been told officially that this is the reason why. But I have been told that they were waiting for results of an ongoing investigation, part of the investigation, before they came out and made any public comment.

As for developments today, CNN has been able to confirm that there was a third written communication between what investigators is believe is the sniper and the police, that being another note and another demand for money. This follows a note that we learned about at another shooting site that was left that demanded $10 million. And the headline there was that children were also threatened.

We know that the writer of that note demanded that that money be deposited into a bank account with unlimited withdrawal access. So, we are trying to determine what else is in the new note that may be similar to the second note, and, of course, to the first written communication, which is that tarot card where the writer identified himself as, "I am God" -- back to you, Connie.

CHUNG: Kelli, I think one of the most chilling things that came out of that -- one of those notes is that the sniper -- if it indeed is the sniper who is writing these notes -- said that he felt the investigators were incompetent and that that cost five more lives.

ARENA: That's right.

In paragraphs preceding that, he outlined for investigators six attempts, six times that he had tried to call and reach officials with a message. And he actually gave names of individuals that he had spoken to and said that, each time, he was hung up on. And law enforcement officials that we've spoken to said that -- at least the sources that I have spoken to said that they know of at least two times that the sniper is believed to have called, and his colleagues at least did not realize at the time that they were dealing with the killer.

There are -- as you mentioned earlier in the show, there are up to 70,000 calls on that tip line, Connie, lots of people calling in, saying that they are confessing to the crime, using the term, "I am God." We do know from several sources that, when the sniper did call -- or the person believed to be the sniper did call -- he used the term, "I am God" on the phone.

But, interestingly enough, law enforcement does believe that they have captured the sniper's true voice on tape. And that voice has been described as male, with an accent, although they cannot determine the origin of the accent, which could indicate, according to investigators, that it may be phony. But yet at least they do believe they have the real voice captured on tape, Connie.

CHUNG: All right, Kelli, we'll get back to you in just a moment, because we want to go off to Seattle to KIRO. But, in the meantime, Kelli, if you can -- and I know you will check on this, as to whether or not the -- why that large tree trunk was removed from the house. One of the neighbors in that Tacoma, Washington, area had suggested that perhaps that tree trunk was taken because of target practice. And, Kelli Arena, if there's anything you can get on that, we'd appreciate it.

In the meantime, let's go, Kelli Arena, to KIRO. That's our Seattle affiliate in Washington state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to go back to something here. And I'm just trying to get this straight in my own mind. But I'm trying to construct a bit of a timeline as to what's going on here.

We first talked to some residents in the area, who -- their first recollections of seeing FBI and/or heavy equipment and the like in the neighborhood was about 9:30 this morning. We now hear from Becky a moment ago that agents actually were knocking on doors at 9:30 last night.

Remember, again, yesterday morning: the latest killing, a bus driver in the Washington, D.C. area. And a note, by some measure a several-page-long note, was left. So far, we've heard nothing from the chief of police in Montgomery County, Maryland, Charles Moose, who has been coordinating the effort back there to search for the sniper, no indication at all that the search would go outside that area.

Yet, last night already, now approaching almost 24 hours, since somehow word got back here to the Northwest that there was a home in the Tacoma area worth perhaps searching for evidence related to this case. I don't know what my point is here, other than we seem to be moving backwards toward perhaps when local authorities learned that there might be a connection here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Steve, that police chief, Charles Moose, had a scheduled press conference, news conference today that he quickly abruptly canceled, saying there was some development. And then we had the Tacoma investigation all of a sudden come up. And so we almost thought, because of the timing coincidence there, that maybe this was a last-minute investigation and that they had just come...

CHUNG: We have just lost the sound. We've just lost the sound from KIRO in Seattle, but we'll continue on.

Once again, the search is continuing in Tacoma, Washington, in the backyard of someone's home. And, apparently, authorities knocked on the door of that home at 9:30 p.m. last night and again came back at 9:30 in the morning this morning.

Mike Brooks in Atlanta, he's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer.

Mike, what do you think could possibly be connected from Washington state to Washington, D.C. here, connected with the sniper attacks? MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, what we're hearing, Connie, is the possibility that this stump that we just saw taken away was used for -- as target practice and inside could be some bullet fragments. In and around the ground of the stump could be bullet fragments. There could also be some shell casings in that backyard.

CHUNG: All right. And if they are able to extract them and if they are .223s, that would certainly lead to some conclusions, would it not, Mike Brooks?

BROOKS: That's true.

What they'll do is, they'll take this evidence. They'll take it back to the ATF lab in Rockville, Maryland. They'll compare it with what they do have.

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKS: I'm sorry.

CHUNG: No, go ahead.

I'm just interrupting you because we have gotten Jim Mattheis of the Tacoma Police Department back again.

Mr. Mattheis, can you hear me?

MATTHEIS: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: All right.

You were telling me earlier, before we were cut off, that your officers are pitching in and helping federal officials. Can you tell me how all of this unfolded, how your police department first learned that federal officials wanted to knock on the door of this home?

MATTHEIS: Well, we were notified about 10:00 this morning that we were needed for site security at the residence. The FBI was going to be doing an evidence search. And that's where we have been all day. We're probably within a half-an-hour of clearing the scene here.

CHUNG: I see.

Were you told the reason why this home was being searched?

MATTHEIS: No. We've been -- all of those questions are being referred to the Seattle office of the FBI.

CHUNG: Were you told that it was in connection with the Washington sniper case?

MATTHEIS: And, again, those questions are all being referred to the Seattle office of the FBI.

CHUNG: How many officers did you bring with you to the house to help out?

MATTHEIS: We have probably got about 15 people out here and there's probably about 15 agents out here.

CHUNG: And are the agents from the ATF and FBI? Are we correct in saying that?

MATTHEIS: Yes.

CHUNG: And do you know -- can you tell us how it came down? When you all arrived on the scene, were you rushing the house or simply knocking on the door?

MATTHEIS: No, it's been very orderly. You know, it wasn't anything confrontational at all.

CHUNG: I'm sorry, Mr. Mattheis, can you still hear me?

MATTHEIS: Yes. There wasn't anything confrontational at all.

CHUNG: And was there anyone in the home?

MATTHEIS: That I don't know. I didn't get out here until after the search had started.

CHUNG: I see.

You say that you're wrapping it up in a little bit. But tell us, do you know what was found and what was taken away?

MATTHEIS: Yes, those questions are all going to have to be referred to the FBI office.

CHUNG: Are we correct in saying that there was a tree trunk removed?

MATTHEIS: I can't confirm that.

CHUNG: All right.

Do you know why the backyard was created into a grid?

MATTHEIS: Again, those questions are all going to have to be referred to the FBI office.

CHUNG: Do you know how large that house is and how large the yard is? It's certainly smaller than a football field, we can tell.

MATTHEIS: Yes, I mean, it's a normal city lot. It's a small duplex.

CHUNG: All right, sir.

Jim Mattheis, thank you so much for being with us.

Can you tell us what your position is on the police force there? MATTHEIS: I'm the public information officer.

CHUNG: OK, great. Thank you so much for talking to us.

And if you do get some more information, we'd love to hear from you, all right? Thank you so much.

All right, once again, we have been talking to neighbors in that area. And our local affiliates have been helping us out. And we have another bit of sound from one of the neighbors.

Let's roll that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Give us a blow-by-blow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like an archaeological dig, where they've got tracks with tape maybe at 3-foot intervals running the full length of the yard.

QUESTION: A pretty impressive site, and especially when you put it in the context that they are conducting an investigation related to the Washington, D.C. sniper. How does that just hit you in the gut?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm moved, as all Americans are moved, by this incident. And if anything can help, we all, as Americans, want that to happen.

I did note, in the backyard, there was a car parked with Washington plates. And I would hope that they'll follow that lead up, because definitely that will relate to the ownership of the house.

QUESTION: And Washington state plates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. Correct.

QUESTION: And, at this point, you say you live behind the house. Or were you visiting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm visiting. I own a building within a block from where I'm standing.

QUESTION: Have you ever seen the folks that live at that particular residence or know anything of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. I can't address that at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: All right, a little bit more information from Tacoma, Washington.

Let's go to Mike Brooks in Atlanta. He's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer. Tell us, Mike, what do you make of this? Here, the local police know very little. They are not being told anything. Everything is being referred to the FBI out there.

BROOKS: Well, the local police know everything that's going on there. They are there, along with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, & Firearms' agents, and FBI agents there doing the search.

But, in this particular case, the resources of the FBI are being used on the scene, so that's why they are referring everything to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also were probably the ones that obtained the warrant for the property. So, again, that's why they are referring everything to the FBI in the Seattle office there.

CHUNG: In the beginning, I missed exactly what you said, Mike. Did you say that the local police do not know anything or in fact they do know and they are not able to reveal it?

BROOKS: No, they do know, Connie. They would know everything that's going on. The FBI would approach them, let them know that they are going to be serving a search warrant, ask them for their assistance.

And the local law enforcement would be there on the scene working hand in hand with the FBI. They do have a joint terrorism task force and they do have an evidence-response team there and other task forces in Seattle that work on a regular basis with the FBI. And so they would be utilized as they would during any other search.

CHUNG: All right, Mike Brooks, stay with us just another moment. We'll probably come back to you in a bit.

Let's go to Don Clark, who is in Houston, a former FBI agent.

Don, good to have you with us again.

Can you share your expertise with us? Tell us, what do you think these FBI agents are possibly looking for? And I'm sure, in a major investigation such as this, that they will simply go out there and do their job and see what they can find.

DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Well, I think it's a little bit more, Connie, than just going out there doing their job to see what they can find.

Keep in mind that these people are here. The FBI is here. The Seattle office of the FBI, which is the jurisdiction over that area there, have gotten some information from back on the East Coast, if in fact this is related. And I suppose it is. And what they've done, that information has led them to be able to obtain a search warrant.

And a search warrant has to be approved by a third party, that being a judge, which means that there was probable cause, in that judge's mind-set, for them to go out to Tacoma and do whatever they thought -- whatever that search warrant specified that they could do. So, the crime here has been shooting, which means bullets, which means casings, which means a weapon, and perhaps other information along that line to help to identify who may own that weapon or may have owned a weapon very similar to that or that same weapon. So there are just a number of things that can go on here that they can be looking for to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together.

And we can speculate why that tree trunk was taken out of the yard. And I have heard somebody else say perhaps target practice or something. Mike Brooks, who has worked on a terrorist task force, his assessment is that it is perhaps target practice. And that could be very well right.

But we have to just wait and see. We're probably not going to know exactly what the contents of that search warrant contain until it's actually been able to exposed. And then I'm sure somebody will get a copy of it. But that search warrant may well stay sealed for a period of time.

CHUNG: I don't know if you can see a monitor, Don, but we're looking at, I presume, a metal detector, either the ATF member or FBI sweeping that backyard, probably looking for just what you said: bullets, casings, weapons.

We also need to caution everyone out there that Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, has said that her sources are telling us that several search warrants have been put out and that, many times, no evidence turns up. So we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, even though we are engaging in a bit of speculation at the moment.

What else can you tell us, Don Clark? Do you have any clues? If they wrap up and leave and do not arrest anyone -- apparently, they were talking to the resident of the house, but do not consider this person a suspect in any way. He's been living there eight years. A neighbor also said that he thought the person that the authorities were looking for had actually been living there before this resident.

CLARK: Well, you know, Connie, search warrants don't always lead to an arrest in a situation. Now, certainly, we all would hope that anything that they are doing, certainly to include this search warrant, would ultimately lead to an identification and an arrest of some person who has committed this very heinous crime on the East Coast here.

But what you are going to see is that, if there has been a lot of these search warrants, one of the things we can tell is that, look, these things are ongoing. They are constantly developing a lot more information and evidence than the media knows about or that people like myself can even talk about. And that's a good thing, because, obviously, they are sifting through to figure out what can be let out and what needs to be protected in terms of evidence and solving this case.

So I think this is another step. I'm not at all surprised to learn that there have been other search warrants that's been executed throughout the course of this. And there will perhaps be some others that's going to be executed. So that's not at all surprising to learn. But I think it's a good thing, that it shows a good thing to the public. And I think it really should reassure the public that there is an awful lot of investigation going on by this body of men and women back there on the East Coast, who are trying to identify who is doing these shootings.

CHUNG: Yes, Don Clark, I would agree with you. They are just working so hard in trying to bring an end to this.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that this information that the agents are acting on in Tacoma, Washington, came from the sniper task force and that they are seeking -- the agents there are seeking evidence regarding ammunition. So this fits the puzzle.

But Don Clark and Mike Brooks were talking about -- this was a senior law enforcement official in Washington telling the Associated Press, also, that no arrests are expected soon and that this search is being conducted with the property owner's consent.

Let's go back to one of our affiliates. CNN is fortunate to have many affiliates in the area. Another one of our affiliates is KING. Let's join their coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he's fairly new to the job back East.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And must be under a tremendous amount pressure, as all of the information that comes to the public out of the investigation of the serial sniper comes from the chief of police, Charles Moose, himself.

Linda Byron is there at the scene where this dig is going on.

And, Linda, what have you seen in the last few minutes?

LINDA BYRON, KING REPORTER: Well, we continue to see police officers arriving. And, of course, the crowds are growing as word gets out that there is apparently a Northwest connection to what's going on.

I want to have the photographer, Richard, push into the duplex that is the focus of all of this investigation right now. It's a nondescript, kind of bluish-gray duplex. And you can see there's a car sitting under the carport there that has actually had a fire in the trunk. That was apparently an arson, according to a neighbor. We do not believe that's connected in any way, but a rather odd sight, that burned-out car being there several months, apparently.

It's in the back of this duplex that all of the action is taking place. The FBI began working this morning. What they have done is, gone into the backyard. They've laid out long stripes and strips of that yellow crime tape and red flags. And they are systematically going through the dirt in the backyard.

The initial focus, of course, were the two large tree stumps in the backyard. They brought in -- the fire department was called in with chain saws to cut into those tree stumps. The tree stumps were actually X-rayed. Then they were cut up and hauled away. We don't know if anything was found.

Of course, after that, we do know they began going through the dirt in that area. It appears that the target of this investigation is evidence, as you have been mentioning, that the man who owns and lives in the duplex does not appear to be a target of the investigation. In fact, we understand he has been very cooperative. Neighbors say he's a very nice man, that he lives there alone, except when his son comes to stay with him, his young son.

There's a family that lives next door. They concur that they think that this gentlemen is a very nice landlord. And, again, he does not appear to be the focus of the investigation. But, other than watching the constant parade of police going in and out, that's as much information as we've been able to gather at this point.

We are waiting for the FBI. We've been expecting a press conference here for the last about 40 minutes. But we understand that perhaps the FBI agent who is going to be speaking to us is caught in traffic. So that's the latest here in Tacoma for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is true, Linda. He is caught in traffic.

BYRON: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Linda Byron, at the scene in Tacoma, thank you.

Well, the story about the serial sniper has definitely focused on the East Coast for these three long weeks that the search has been under way. And now this search for the serial sniper has taken the nation's attention to this small plot of land on Proctor Street in Tacoma.

Steve Handelsman joins us from Rockville, Maryland, for NBC News.

Steve, I wanted to ask you first, the chief was going to have a press conference about two -- I'm just looking at the clock here -- about two hours ago and called it off, because he said, "We have new avenues to pursue." What can you tell us that you've found out from the chief about these so-called new avenues of information?

STEVE HANDELSMAN, NBC REPORTER: Jeanne (ph), it's apparent that there are a couple of things going on here. And they are apparently positive developments, according to a source I spoke to close to the task force.

No. 1 and most prominently is that search 3,000 miles from here back there in Tacoma that you've done so much reporting on. No. 2, though, is an analysis here at the task force...

CHUNG: Let's go to the neighbor that we were talking to earlier. His name is Steven Angell. He's on the phone.

Steven, can you hear me?

ANGELL: Yes.

CHUNG: Good.

Steven, since they have found bullet fragments at the location, can you tell me, did you ever hear gunfire?

ANGELL: No, nothing that you can be sure came from that house or even in this neighborhood.

CHUNG: Really? Do you normally work during the day and you're not there?

ANGELL: I've worked in the mornings. And then I'm home at night. And I wouldn't say that I've heard anything that I could be sure was around the area.

CHUNG: But usually you aren't there during the daytime, would you say?

ANGELL: In the mornings, I'm not here.

CHUNG: I see.

Have you seen anything unusual going on at that home?

ANGELL: No. That's kind of the thing is, the house seems like part of the neighborhood. It's a really family-oriented neighborhood. There's lots of children out playing all the time. And I've seen kids playing in that house -- in that yard before.

CHUNG: But, from what we understand -- and it's consistent with what you've told us -- that the resident there, the current resident is not in any way a suspect, was questioned and was happy to let the authorities go in and conduct the search.

So, as you can observe there, we seem to still see agents there. How about you, from your vantage point?

ANGELL: There's all kinds of people. Actually, a lot of spectators are driving up, pulling up now to try to find out what's going on. There's a large crowd on the far side of the house lining up to watch. But there's all kinds of cars pulling up.

The only people in uniform are the Tacoma Police Department and Tacoma Fire Department. You don't see FBI agents with the big jackets telling us who they are or again. But several people that could be the reporters or agents, people right up in the yard, that obviously are supposed to be there.

CHUNG: Can you see the backyard from where you are?

ANGELL: I can't.

CHUNG: I'll tell you what we're seeing. We're seeing about five men. And they are folding up a tarp of some sort. We were told by the public information officer for the Tacoma police that they were going to probably wrap this up in a short while. What time is it there? It must be, what, 5:30?

ANGELL: Yes, a little after 5:00.

CHUNG: Right. And, usually, this is probably a time when people are coming home.

ANGELL: And that has to do with a lot of people showing up now to watch. You see the people that haven't heard anything about this that are just getting home, wondering what's going on. And you can see people that are coming to see this. So it's quite a crowd growing, with cars and people.

CHUNG: All right, Steven, please stay on the line with us, if you would. And we'll probably get back to you in a little bit.

Our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, is in Washington. She has been reporting several aspects of this case.

The last time I talked to you, Kelli, I was wondering if you knew anything about that tree trunk that was removed, including roots, and pulled out, put in plastic, and taken away by the authorities in Tacoma, Washington.

ARENA: Well, Connie, actually, if I may, can we talk about that a little bit later?

But what I'd like to report is that Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose is expected to announce the names of two individuals later on this evening that are wanted for questioning, that investigators would like to talk to in connection with the sniper case. One source said that these individuals are not to be defined in any way as suspects. They are merely people that investigators have a very serious interest in talking to.

And there are two of them -- that development happening just now. And we are waiting for what we are told is going to be a press conference later on this evening -- no timing clear on exactly when that's going to happen.

And I'm sorry for not answering your first question. But about the tree trunk, sources are saying that investigators were primarily looking for evidence of shell casings or bullets or weapons in that yard, of course bullets and shell casings within the tree trunk itself. I am told that that was basically the primary piece of evidence that they wanted from that yard.

Lots of people saw that tree trunk being removed and taken away for testing. I'm told, obviously, it will be ballistics testing. And one can only extrapolate from that, that there may have been some target practice being done, or at least investigators think there may have been -- Connie, back to you.

CHUNG: All right, Kelli Arena, thank you.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MELISSA MALLON, SEATTLE FBI SPOKESPERSON: As you can all tell, we are conducting a search. We are not going to go into any details.

We're working with several agencies: Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Police Department, ATF, ourselves, Federal Bureau of Investigation. We're cooperating with all the local authorities. It's pending. That's all we can say at this time. And other than that, we have no comment.

QUESTION: Are you looking for a bullet fragment or a casing?

MALLON: We can't comment regarding that.

QUESTION: Can you tell us at all what this is connected to, if anything?

MALLON: No, at this time, we can't.

QUESTION: Is anyone in custody?

MALLON: I'm sorry, I just can't make any further comments.

QUESTION: Is it the house you are looking at or an individual in the home? We understand it's a consensual search.

MALLON: Right now, we're at the house. It is a consensual search. And we are just conducting a search on the outside perimeter of the house.

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: I can't comment on that. Other than that, I can't really comment on anything else, OK?

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: Not too much longer.

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: Late this afternoon.

QUESTION: What have you taken out of the backyard?

MALLON: I can't comment on that.

QUESTION: So, even though everyone is asking if this is indeed connected to Virginia, which everyone here believes it is, you can't confirm or deny that at all?

MALLON: I can't confirm or deny that at this time. No, we cannot. It's a pending investigation. As soon as we know, we'll let all of you -- all the folks know.

QUESTION: Well, can you give any reassurances to the people in the neighborhood, who are obviously somewhat concerned to watch all of this unfolding? MALLON: There is no immediate danger for anyone in this neighborhood, as far as we can tell. If there was, we would let the officials know that. But that's about all we can say.

QUESTION: Melissa, how long is this going to go on for?

MALLON: We'll be out of here fairly soon, probably in the next few hours.

QUESTION: Is there going to be some briefing by an authority here at the scene?

MALLON: If we have more information to release, we will.

QUESTION: Here or somewhere else?

MALLON: Probably back in our office or Tacoma or wherever it needs to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will probably be in Seattle.

QUESTION: Seattle FBI?

MALLON: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: So how many agents are here? Can you give us any idea what they've been doing?

MALLON: A typical search team. And that's about all I'll say with that.

QUESTION: This is a typical search team?

MALLON: It's just a group of FBI agents that are out doing the search.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what you've recovered at all?

MALLON: No. And that's it, OK?

QUESTION: And what other agencies are involved with this?

(CROSSTALK)

MALLON: What's that?

QUESTION: Do you have ATF here today?

MALLON: Yes. ATF is here today.

QUESTION: ATF. Any other federal agencies?

MALLON: No, FBI and ATF is all that's here.

QUESTION: Are they going to bring out the sniper task force?

MALLON: That's all for now, OK? Thank you.

CHUNG: All right, the conclusion of a street-side news conference in Tacoma, Washington, where the backyard of a home is being searched by the ATF and FBI.

The person you were listening to was Melissa Mallon of the FBI. She wasn't at liberty to give any information, really, to speak of. She even said that the search began in the late afternoon. However, according to other people in the neighborhood, it began earlier this morning. They are conducting a search of the house, not of an individual. And standing next to her was the Tacoma police spokesperson.

Let's now go to Wolf Blitzer, who is in Montgomery County. He's been there for days now. And, at the time, I think it was about 6:00 Eastern time we thought that Chief Moose was going to meet with reporters. He canceled that very quickly. And now we're told that he will come out again. And our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, reports that two men are being sought for questioning, not suspects, but sought for questioning.

Let's go to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf, what can you tell us?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we do know that that statement that Chief Moose was expected to make around 6:00 never occurred, that the police captain here in Montgomery County, Nancy Demme, did emerge. And she made a very, very terse statement, but intriguing, based on what we've learned since then, Connie.

She specifically said this: "There have been developments in the case that we really need to focus on right now." She refused to elaborate, but, as we can see, there have indeed been developments that the police department here, the task force, including the ATF, the FBI, all of the other state, local and federal authorities have to focus on.

There's that development, a dramatic development, all the way across the country in Tacoma, Washington, the search of that backyard presumably for evidence that could possibly be linked to this overall sniper investigation -- and now our own Kelli Arena reporting that the police chief expected shortly to provide some information about two individuals that the local law enforcement authorities would like to question.

They are wanted for questioning. They are not being called suspects, specifically not being described as suspects, but individuals that the authorities would like to question. We don't have more details. We are standing by, though, awaiting Chief Moose. If in fact he emerges from the building right behind me, goes to the microphones, makes a statement, and if he answers questions, of course we'll have all of that live.

All of this is happening on a day that, not only have there been these developments in Tacoma, Washington, and now we're learning the description, a desire to find these two individuals. There was also a scary incident along Interstate 270 right here in Montgomery County, a major interstate that leads into the Washington-area Beltway, as you know, Connie, a very, very busy interstate highway.

A school bus driver said she saw one of those white Isuzu box vans and she thought that there was a gun inside. They closed down that interstate for some time, but now it's been reopened. They apparently didn't find any such box truck.

Connie, we're standing by for more.

CHUNG: All right, Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We appreciate it.

Jeanne Meserve, who has been at the evidence desk in Washington keeping tabs on this sniper investigation, is ready to talk to us now.

Jeanne, what can you tell us?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Connie, I can tell you that, on Monday, apparently the sniper just slipped through authorities' fingers.

You'll remember on Monday, there was an arrest of two men at a gas station in Henrico County just outside of Richmond, Virginia. Sources tell me that investigators believe the man they think is the sniper made calls from that gas station over the weekend and made another on Monday morning. Police were there, ready to jump. They jumped, but they missed the sniper by 10 minutes or less.

And these sources tell me that they are putting the blame on miscommunication between task force members in Montgomery County and local law enforcement in Henrico County and its environs -- so the sniper just being missed by a matter of minutes on Monday morning, according to these sources.

Now, there has been friction between the various members of this task force, between the task force and some of the local jurisdictions -- one official telling me tonight that the relationship at this point is being held together by -- quote -- "a hope and a prayer" tonight. Of course, if we have significant developments here, if indeed they are going to put out the request that they are looking for two people for questioning, an advance in the investigation will do a lot to smooth over the frictions that have developed, frictions over tactics and techniques and also the flow of information -- Connie.

CHUNG: Jeanne, when you said that this sniper may have slipped through the fingers of the authorities just by 10 minutes or so, you said that it was because of a miscommunication -- I missed a little bit of it -- a miscommunication between the task force and the local officers?

MESERVE: That's right. That's how it's been characterized to me, no chapter and verse on that. There was simply some delay in relaying critical information between the task force in Montgomery County and those local officials. And because of that delay, they swooped in, but they swooped in too late.

They picked up these two men who turned out to be illegal immigrants. And the sniper had gotten away. And it was so, so very close.

CHUNG: And was there any indication that the sniper was actually in that identifiable vehicle, the white truck or whatever, cream- colored?

MESERVE: I have no information.

CHUNG: Nothing further on that?

MESERVE: Excuse me, Connie. I'm having a little bit of trouble hearing you.

Whether he was in that vehicle or any vehicle that was near that description at that gas station, I cannot tell you. I do not know if they have a good vehicle description from that location. We do know that, in the course of this investigation, they have put out composites of a couple of vehicles: one a white box truck with some damage to the left rear; the other two white vans, one an Astro van, the other an Econoline van, both of those with ladder racks on top.

Those are the composites that have been put out. And, in fact, it's been a little confusing, because, at some of the shooting sites, people have automatically begun looking for vehicles that fit those descriptions. And investigators have had some fear that, because of the concentration on those, they might have missed other vehicles that were indeed significant to this investigation.

CHUNG: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thank you.

Let's go back to the other coast in this country. Let's go to the West Coast to Tacoma, Washington, again.

Deborah Waters is a neighbor in that neighborhood that's being searched.

Deborah Waters, can you hear me?

DEBORAH WATERS, TACOMA RESIDENT: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: Thank you, Deborah, for being with us.

WATERS: Thank you.

CHUNG: Tell me, do I understand directly that you heard gunfire about a month ago?

WATERS: It wasn't a month ago. We have heard gunfire in this neighborhood -- because it's not the best neighborhood -- before. But we were just trying to remember stuff. Me and my husband were going together trying to remember things. And we do remember that, before the guy moved in that moved in now, that lived there now, we did hear a lot of gunfire in the neighborhood.

And we were actually -- we actually called 911. And they heard the gunfire and stuff. And then the police came out. But nothing ever came of that. CHUNG: All right. Now, once again, when did that happen?

WATERS: That was -- it was probably around December of last year, because it was before the man that lives in the house now moved in the house.

CHUNG: How long have you been living in that neighborhood, Deborah?

WATERS: We've just lived here a year, since October of last year.

CHUNG: And you know the person who lives in the house now?

WATERS: Yes, we do.

CHUNG: And this person, obviously, as we have reported, is not considered to be anybody who is even a suspect, witness, or anything of the kind, and gladly allowed agents into his home and into the backyard to conduct their search. You say that you heard the gunfire on other occasions when the previous resident was living there?

WATERS: That's correct.

CHUNG: How often would you say you would hear that gunfire?

WATERS: Maybe -- since we moved in in October, we would hear it maybe once a month. And then it started getting more regular. And that's when we started calling 911.

CHUNG: And each time you called 911, did they respond? Did the police come?

WATERS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. One time, the 911 operator actually heard the gunfire in the background and she asked my husband -- she goes, "Are you outside?"

And he said, "Yes, I'm trying to figure out where the shots are coming from."

And she said, "Well, hurry up and get back inside." So, that was the last time that we heard them. And we haven't heard gunfire around the neighborhood for a while now.

CHUNG: Deborah, when the police came, did they knock on every door in the neighborhood, including yours?

WATERS: No, ma'am, they did not. They haven't even said anything to us at this point. And we live right across the street.

CHUNG: No, I mean back in -- I'm talking about back in December, when the operator heard...

WATERS: Oh.

CHUNG: Sorry? WATERS: Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, they came around then and they looked around and stuff. They didn't actually come up to our door and knock on it. But my husband was outside the one time that they heard them actually over the phone. And he talked to them. And they just said that they would try to -- that they were going to canvas the area and try to find out what they could. But, nothing, like I said, ever came of that, as far as we know.

CHUNG: I'm sorry, I missed just a little bit of what you said. Did they actually knock on the door of that house, as you recall, or were you able to see?

WATERS: No. No, they didn't actually knock on the door of that house, no.

CHUNG: How far away do you live from the home?

WATERS: We're right across the street, directly across the street.

CHUNG: Oh, so you have a very good vantage point.

WATERS: Yes, ma'am.

CHUNG: When you heard the gunfire, could you and your husband tell that it was coming from that house, or was it?

WATERS: No, we couldn't tell. In fact, it didn't sound like it was coming from that house. It sounded like it was somewhere close, but I wouldn't say that close. We kind of felt like maybe it was -- there is what we call a dirt hill right up the road from us that's just a big area, where there's just dirt hills and stuff that the kids go and play and different things like that.

And we thought maybe it was coming from over there. But now that this is going on, we thought maybe it was actually closer. We just really couldn't tell.

CHUNG: Do you know the people who live there now and did you know the people who lived there before?

WATERS: We did not know the people that lived there before. In fact, now, thinking back on it, we hardly ever saw anybody from that -- it's actually a duplex. We never really saw anybody from that side of the house come out a lot or anything. So we can't really say about those people.

But we do know the people that live there now. And he comes in and out all the time. And he's just a really great person.

CHUNG: Do you mind telling me what he does for a living?

WATERS: As far as we, know he owns his own auto shop, works on cars. CHUNG: And married? I was told by another neighbor that there were children there.

WATERS: Yes, there are some older girls that live on one side of the duplex, as far as we know and as far as we've seen. And the man that owns the house does have a son that plays with our son, but he doesn't live there all the time. He just visits sometimes.

CHUNG: I see.

Are you and your husband familiar with guns enough to know, when gunfire goes off, if you can in any way figure out what kind of gun it was coming from?

WATERS: Well, my husband is actually in the military. He's in the Army. He's based at Fort Lewis. And he can't -- he's not allowed to do an interview right now. He doesn't know anything, necessarily, or not know anything. But he's not allowed to say anything or do any interviews, because he's in the military, until he speaks to his supervisor.

So they're going to be calling him in a little while. So he does know enough about guns to really talk more about it more than I do. But, like I said, he can't do that right now.

CHUNG: I understand.

Perhaps you can tell me what he has told you? In other words, do you have any idea? Did he say, "Oh, I know that that sounds like a" what?

WATERS: No, he hasn't said anything like that. But he did remind me. He said: "Well, don't you remember when we heard all those gunshots all the time and we called the police?"

And I was like, "Oh, yes." That refreshed my memory that that had been going on.

CHUNG: All right, thank...

WATERS: Because...

CHUNG: Yes, go ahead, Deborah. What did you say?

WATERS: I was just going to say, because it hadn't happened in so long, we had kind of just thought that maybe it wasn't anything to worry about. And now that we look back, maybe it should have been something we should have been more worried about.

CHUNG: Well, Deborah, we'll try to get back to you -- Deborah Waters. We'd like to get back to you, certainly when your husband is available to speak and if he gets approval from his higher-ups, all right?

Deborah, thank you.

Let's now go to Lilian Kim of CNN. She's on the scene there in Tacoma, Washington.

Lilian? Lilian Kim, can you hear me? I guess she can't.

Once again, what we are witnessing, what we are watching now is a search that is continuing by the FBI and ATF agents and local police in Tacoma, Washington. And it's a search in the backyard of a person's home. The person who owns the home and those who live there are not considered suspects or witnesses or anything of the kind. But the search is being conducted in connection with the Washington sniper case.

A tree trunk has been removed from the home, wrapped in plastic, taken away. A front-loader was there earlier and has now gone. We are told that several search warrants over the course of this investigation in the Washington area have been conducted. Several search warrants have been issued. But, so, indeed, perhaps no evidence will emerge.

Let us go now to Mike Brooks, who is in Atlanta. He's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer.

Mike, can you give us any of your thoughts? What do you think?

BROOKS: Well, what I'm hearing from sources, Connie, is that the main focus of this search in this backyard of this duplex in Tacoma was the stump.

We saw earlier in live footage from the helicopter of a stump being loaded on the back of a truck. The stump apparently was supposed to have been used as target practice. So we know we have the Tacoma police, Pierce County Sheriff's, the FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They started a search early this morning.

We see the backyard gridded off in yellow tape. What we saw earlier was agents going through with metal detectors. What they were looking for were shell casings or any bullet fragments in and around that yard and also any possible weapons that could be under the surface of the grass there.

They grid the area off, do a methodical search, take their time. They are in no hurry at all. And we are hearing, though, that the main focus of that search was that stump. The FBI evidence response team out in Seattle is very talented. They know what they are doing, along with agents from the ATF. After this stump is recovered, they will most likely take any evidence that is found in the stump, take it back to the ATF lab in Rockville for comparison with the other pieces of bullet and bullet fragment that we have found in the past -- Connie.

CHUNG: All right, thank you very much, Mike Brooks, in Atlanta.

Let's now go to Lilian Kim. She's on the phone for CNN.

Lilian, can you hear me?

LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Connie.

CHUNG: Can you tell me you know what about the investigation in Tacoma, Washington?

KIM: Well, we just arrived at the scene. And the FBI here, the representative is being very tightlipped. So, the information that I have is information that you probably already have heard.

Federal agents continue to search this property. It is a residential duplex. And we've been told by sources that the search going on here is connected to the D.C. area shootings. Sources say, so far, agents have removed a tree trunk that they have sawed off at its root. They then wrapped it in plastic before taking it away.

It is believed that the tree trunk might have been used for target practice and may contain bullets for bullet fragments. Sources also tell us that authorities have been looking for shell casings that may be in the yard. They have sectioned off the backyard in a grid pattern. Now, this search began early this afternoon. And it is expected to be wrapped up in a couple of hours.

In this area, there is a lot of media here, as you can expect. A lot of people here were surprised that something -- a very low-key neighborhood -- that they are very surprised that this area is connected -- possibly connected to events on the other side of the country. So, a lot of people here are just very surprised and watching carefully as investigators search the property -- Connie.

CHUNG: All right, Lilian, thank you so much.

Just to recap once again: This search in Tacoma, Washington, continues. We don't know the precise connection, but we are told that the sniper task force notified authorities in Tacoma, Washington -- in Seattle, Washington as well -- and asked that this search be conducted.

One of the most dramatic developments tonight is Jeanne Meserve's report that authorities may very well have allowed the sniper to slip through their fingers by maybe 10 minutes or so, that, indeed, he was making calls from a pay phone, but they weren't able to get there because of a miscommunication between the task force and some local police.

So, once again, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose was supposed to hold a news conference, or at least meet with reporters, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight. But his meeting with reporters was canceled.

And now it's expected that he will try and meet with reporters again. We're told that it will be a news conference. Perhaps it is coming up shortly. And he will announce and name two people that authorities would like to talk to. These two people are not suspects. They are just people that might very well help in this investigation.

I'm Connie Chung in New York. We thank you for joining us here on CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT and this special report. Now on to "LARRY KING LIVE," who picks up our coverage.

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





Residence For Clues>


Aired October 23, 2002 - 20:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening, everyone.
We're following breaking news tonight: the search of a home in Tacoma, Washington, by federal agents. The search is related -- we do not know how -- to the investigation of the Washington sniper shootings. It's 2,400 miles away from Washington, D.C. And we only know a few details at the moment.

The home is in Tacoma, Washington. Police arrived there with ATF and FBI agents. They provided a grid on the backyard area. And they even have a backhoe there.

We have a neighbor of that house in that neighborhood, Steven Angell, on the telephone.

Steven, can you hear me?

STEVEN ANGELL, TACOMA RESIDENT: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: Steven, can you tell us, what time did the police, did the authorities arrive at that house?

ANGELL: I'm not even sure. They came in early morning with a fire truck. And then several cars right afterwards blocked off the street.

CHUNG: Do you know if there was anyone in the house and if any of those people might have been taken away?

ANGELL: I don't know. There doesn't appear to be anyone in there now. And from what I've heard, just following the news, is that they're actually looking for someone who was there before who doesn't live there anymore.

CHUNG: How far away are you from the house?

ANGELL: Not even half-a-block. You cross the intersection and it's two houses on the left. I can watch it from my driveway.

CHUNG: Did you know who lived there?

ANGELL: No, I don't. I've seen children playing in the front yard there, young children.

CHUNG: And a couple, man and woman?

ANGELL: I've seen one man out there before, but so sporadically, I don't know if he even lives there.

CHUNG: I see. How long have you been living there in this area?

ANGELL: I've lived there for nine months now.

CHUNG: I see. And do you know how long they have lived there?

ANGELL: I don't. Like I said earlier, on the news, they kind of briefly made the point that they're not even looking for someone who still lives there -- a former resident.

CHUNG: I see.

Were you able to witness any of the activity by the authorities there?

ANGELL: I saw more on the news than actually when I've been outside, just when they took a tree stump away and then this digging in the backyard. They had a chain saw.

CHUNG: Yes, we did read that report on our wire services. And that is that they did take a tree trunk. And do you have any idea of what that was about.

ANGELL: Just from what the news has said. And they're speculating that it's possible, from target practice with a gun, that there may be bullets or bullet casings lodged into the trunk for ballistic information.

CHUNG: Can you see the backhoe there?

ANGELL: Actually, I believe the backhoe, about 45 minutes ago was the last time I saw it.

CHUNG: Do you have any sense of exactly what the police, the ATF and the FBI are doing there?

ANGELL: There's really kind of -- they seem to be not even very serious, from what I've seen. They're not -- they kind of seem like they're wrapping up. They're not real on it, as in, when you go to it, they've got the streets blocked off, but they are not stopping people from walking back and forth. They don't seem like it's anything real pressing, more like information rather than finding the suspect right away.

CHUNG: But they've cordoned off the house?

ANGELL: Just the street where your car would enter at the beginning and the end of the block. There's no tape around the house or anything. There's actually a family, the duplex that lives next door, that I've seen the family still in their house next door.

CHUNG: How would you describe the neighborhood that you're living in?

ANGELL: It's a lower-income, very family neighborhood. There's lots of family, lots of military. We're not too far from the military base. It's the lower end of town, but there's lots of families out here.

CHUNG: Do you know if the individuals who are living there now had any knowledge of the people who were living there before?

ANGELL: I have no idea.

CHUNG: Is it all safe there, as you can determine? There aren't any guns drawn, or there were never any guns drawn at the beginning, were there?

ANGELL: No, not that I have seen. There have been no guns drawn at all. The police are not discouraging people from watching as long as they stay out of the way on the end of the block. There's actually quite a crowd looking. And everyone is excited. They are talking to reporters. And the cops aren't pushing anyone away. And it doesn't seem to be a real strong atmosphere of danger.

CHUNG: I see.

Well, search warrants were being issued. And we were cautioned that there have been many search warrants issued in connection with this case. Certainly, there have been 70,000 tips since the beginning of this horrible spree of shooting. And then we're also warned that this may not turn up any evidence.

But, apparently, you saw or you do know that a tree trunk was carried away. It was wrapped in plastic and taken away. Do you know if anything else was taken away from that home?

ANGELL: Not specifically, but, in the back of the U-Haul, when they did have it open a while ago, it was more than half full of that silver tarping wrapped around. You can't really tell what it is. But there were several things in the back of the U-Haul.

CHUNG: All right, Steve Angell, a neighbor, please stick with us. We'll come back to you in just a moment.

But, in the meantime, let's go to Jim Mattheis of the Tacoma Police Department.

Mr. Mattheis, can you tell us what's going on at that home, where we are told the ATF and the FBI are searching?

JIM MATTHEIS, TACOMA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, right now, our department is tasked with site security at a residence in the 3300 block of South Proctor, assisting the FBI with a search.

CHUNG: Do you know why the FBI and the ATF are there?

MATTHEIS: No. All of those questions are being referred...

CHUNG: Mr. Mattheis? All right, we must have lost Mr. Mattheis.

Let's go back to Steve Angell.

Mr. Angell, I was trying to talk to the police and try and find out. And the police spokesperson there that I was just talking to, a man named Jim Mattheis, was just telling us that he actually didn't have very much information, that the ATF and the FBI are there and the local police are assisting them.

Tell us about what you have heard, whether you, 2,400 miles away, were connected, in other words, listening to and keeping tabs on the Washington area sniper story. Or is it just something that you believe is happening on the other coast and you're not paying much attention to?

Steve Angell, can you hear me? Well, I guess we've lost both of them.

This is a day full of several developments. I'm sorry, once again, let me -- someone was just telling me something. OK.

This has been a day of several developments in the sniper story. We now know that there were two notes left by the sniper, one last Saturday at the shooting scene at the Ponderosa restaurant, and one left just at this latest shooting of a bus driver. Both notes contained demands for $10 million.

And, from what we understand, our sources are telling us and telling Kelli Arena, our Justice Department correspondent, that the sniper has apparently asked that the money be placed in a bank account with unlimited withdrawal capability. The writer also complained that he had tried to get in touch with authorities at least six times and was unable to and was even hung up on.

Authorities acknowledged that two calls were mishandled. Now -- all right, we do have some more information from Tacoma. Let's go back to Tacoma, Washington, where a house, a backyard is being searched by ATF and FBI agents and local police.

We don't know exactly the details, but let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night, around 9:00, we noticed two gentlemen with briefcases knocking on his door. He's got a lot of people coming and going, so we thought -- we didn't think anything about it. We saw their briefcases. We weren't quite sure.

But then this morning, at about 9:30, maybe 10:00, I noticed a group of about six people, individuals standing outside on my driveway. I just asked who they were. And they wouldn't let me know. So I called the police on them and later found out, a few minutes later, that they were FBI. And I informed them about the two gentlemen last night and they said that, no, that was FBI, too, last night, talking to him, probably getting permission to be looking in his yard. QUESTION: Did you ask if he was the target of an investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From what we've been told, he's not a suspect in any part of this. They are just questioning him, as if maybe he might know something. But he's not in custody. He's not under arrest, anything like that.

QUESTION: What can you tell us about him and how long he's lived there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he's lived there for about eight years. He owns the property and he rents out the other side. He's a nice guy. I don't see him very often. It's just kind of, "Hi. Bye." His little boy comes every once in a while and wants to pet our dog.

So, I've talked to him -- the most I've talked to him was when his car was lit on fire. And I just asked him -- it was kind of unsettling to have a car set on fire. And we just wanted to know. He said, no, it was just he was targeted. We didn't have to worry about anything. And other than that, I don't talk to him very often.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: So, a resident in the Tacoma area, his home is being searched by the ATF and the FBI. We don't know exactly why. But, apparently, this residence had been living here, according to the woman you just saw, for at least eight years, and he was being questioned by authorities. He is not being held. He is not considered a suspect either.

So, once again, the story that we are examining at the moment is that there is a house, a backyard that's being searched in Tacoma, Washington, 2,400 miles away from Washington, D.C.

Who we do have in Washington, D.C. is our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, who has been breaking many bits of information all day today and yesterday.

Kelli, what's the latest information you have now?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, apparently, what's going on here is, we know that there were search warrants being executed. That's obvious. We've seen the video. And we know that, for sure, this is in connection to the sniper investigation.

But we have been cautioned, Connie, by several law enforcement officials that there have been several search warrants executed in connection with the sniper investigation that have led nowhere. Now, obviously, to go before a judge, you need to present probable cause to get a search warrant, no matter how gruesome the crimes that are being committed. So they did have to go -- law enforcement did have to go before a judge with probable cause and say, "This is why we need to get into this property."

We have been working the phones here feverishly trying to find out what it is that they are looking for. We have been assured that at least it's not a body or bodies, according to sources. But we are waiting to hear, officially at least -- we were supposed to have a press conference here in Montgomery County, which was abruptly canceled upon the video running of the search that was being done.

We have not been told officially that this is the reason why. But I have been told that they were waiting for results of an ongoing investigation, part of the investigation, before they came out and made any public comment.

As for developments today, CNN has been able to confirm that there was a third written communication between what investigators is believe is the sniper and the police, that being another note and another demand for money. This follows a note that we learned about at another shooting site that was left that demanded $10 million. And the headline there was that children were also threatened.

We know that the writer of that note demanded that that money be deposited into a bank account with unlimited withdrawal access. So, we are trying to determine what else is in the new note that may be similar to the second note, and, of course, to the first written communication, which is that tarot card where the writer identified himself as, "I am God" -- back to you, Connie.

CHUNG: Kelli, I think one of the most chilling things that came out of that -- one of those notes is that the sniper -- if it indeed is the sniper who is writing these notes -- said that he felt the investigators were incompetent and that that cost five more lives.

ARENA: That's right.

In paragraphs preceding that, he outlined for investigators six attempts, six times that he had tried to call and reach officials with a message. And he actually gave names of individuals that he had spoken to and said that, each time, he was hung up on. And law enforcement officials that we've spoken to said that -- at least the sources that I have spoken to said that they know of at least two times that the sniper is believed to have called, and his colleagues at least did not realize at the time that they were dealing with the killer.

There are -- as you mentioned earlier in the show, there are up to 70,000 calls on that tip line, Connie, lots of people calling in, saying that they are confessing to the crime, using the term, "I am God." We do know from several sources that, when the sniper did call -- or the person believed to be the sniper did call -- he used the term, "I am God" on the phone.

But, interestingly enough, law enforcement does believe that they have captured the sniper's true voice on tape. And that voice has been described as male, with an accent, although they cannot determine the origin of the accent, which could indicate, according to investigators, that it may be phony. But yet at least they do believe they have the real voice captured on tape, Connie.

CHUNG: All right, Kelli, we'll get back to you in just a moment, because we want to go off to Seattle to KIRO. But, in the meantime, Kelli, if you can -- and I know you will check on this, as to whether or not the -- why that large tree trunk was removed from the house. One of the neighbors in that Tacoma, Washington, area had suggested that perhaps that tree trunk was taken because of target practice. And, Kelli Arena, if there's anything you can get on that, we'd appreciate it.

In the meantime, let's go, Kelli Arena, to KIRO. That's our Seattle affiliate in Washington state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to go back to something here. And I'm just trying to get this straight in my own mind. But I'm trying to construct a bit of a timeline as to what's going on here.

We first talked to some residents in the area, who -- their first recollections of seeing FBI and/or heavy equipment and the like in the neighborhood was about 9:30 this morning. We now hear from Becky a moment ago that agents actually were knocking on doors at 9:30 last night.

Remember, again, yesterday morning: the latest killing, a bus driver in the Washington, D.C. area. And a note, by some measure a several-page-long note, was left. So far, we've heard nothing from the chief of police in Montgomery County, Maryland, Charles Moose, who has been coordinating the effort back there to search for the sniper, no indication at all that the search would go outside that area.

Yet, last night already, now approaching almost 24 hours, since somehow word got back here to the Northwest that there was a home in the Tacoma area worth perhaps searching for evidence related to this case. I don't know what my point is here, other than we seem to be moving backwards toward perhaps when local authorities learned that there might be a connection here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Steve, that police chief, Charles Moose, had a scheduled press conference, news conference today that he quickly abruptly canceled, saying there was some development. And then we had the Tacoma investigation all of a sudden come up. And so we almost thought, because of the timing coincidence there, that maybe this was a last-minute investigation and that they had just come...

CHUNG: We have just lost the sound. We've just lost the sound from KIRO in Seattle, but we'll continue on.

Once again, the search is continuing in Tacoma, Washington, in the backyard of someone's home. And, apparently, authorities knocked on the door of that home at 9:30 p.m. last night and again came back at 9:30 in the morning this morning.

Mike Brooks in Atlanta, he's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer.

Mike, what do you think could possibly be connected from Washington state to Washington, D.C. here, connected with the sniper attacks? MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, what we're hearing, Connie, is the possibility that this stump that we just saw taken away was used for -- as target practice and inside could be some bullet fragments. In and around the ground of the stump could be bullet fragments. There could also be some shell casings in that backyard.

CHUNG: All right. And if they are able to extract them and if they are .223s, that would certainly lead to some conclusions, would it not, Mike Brooks?

BROOKS: That's true.

What they'll do is, they'll take this evidence. They'll take it back to the ATF lab in Rockville, Maryland. They'll compare it with what they do have.

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKS: I'm sorry.

CHUNG: No, go ahead.

I'm just interrupting you because we have gotten Jim Mattheis of the Tacoma Police Department back again.

Mr. Mattheis, can you hear me?

MATTHEIS: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: All right.

You were telling me earlier, before we were cut off, that your officers are pitching in and helping federal officials. Can you tell me how all of this unfolded, how your police department first learned that federal officials wanted to knock on the door of this home?

MATTHEIS: Well, we were notified about 10:00 this morning that we were needed for site security at the residence. The FBI was going to be doing an evidence search. And that's where we have been all day. We're probably within a half-an-hour of clearing the scene here.

CHUNG: I see.

Were you told the reason why this home was being searched?

MATTHEIS: No. We've been -- all of those questions are being referred to the Seattle office of the FBI.

CHUNG: Were you told that it was in connection with the Washington sniper case?

MATTHEIS: And, again, those questions are all being referred to the Seattle office of the FBI.

CHUNG: How many officers did you bring with you to the house to help out?

MATTHEIS: We have probably got about 15 people out here and there's probably about 15 agents out here.

CHUNG: And are the agents from the ATF and FBI? Are we correct in saying that?

MATTHEIS: Yes.

CHUNG: And do you know -- can you tell us how it came down? When you all arrived on the scene, were you rushing the house or simply knocking on the door?

MATTHEIS: No, it's been very orderly. You know, it wasn't anything confrontational at all.

CHUNG: I'm sorry, Mr. Mattheis, can you still hear me?

MATTHEIS: Yes. There wasn't anything confrontational at all.

CHUNG: And was there anyone in the home?

MATTHEIS: That I don't know. I didn't get out here until after the search had started.

CHUNG: I see.

You say that you're wrapping it up in a little bit. But tell us, do you know what was found and what was taken away?

MATTHEIS: Yes, those questions are all going to have to be referred to the FBI office.

CHUNG: Are we correct in saying that there was a tree trunk removed?

MATTHEIS: I can't confirm that.

CHUNG: All right.

Do you know why the backyard was created into a grid?

MATTHEIS: Again, those questions are all going to have to be referred to the FBI office.

CHUNG: Do you know how large that house is and how large the yard is? It's certainly smaller than a football field, we can tell.

MATTHEIS: Yes, I mean, it's a normal city lot. It's a small duplex.

CHUNG: All right, sir.

Jim Mattheis, thank you so much for being with us.

Can you tell us what your position is on the police force there? MATTHEIS: I'm the public information officer.

CHUNG: OK, great. Thank you so much for talking to us.

And if you do get some more information, we'd love to hear from you, all right? Thank you so much.

All right, once again, we have been talking to neighbors in that area. And our local affiliates have been helping us out. And we have another bit of sound from one of the neighbors.

Let's roll that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Give us a blow-by-blow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like an archaeological dig, where they've got tracks with tape maybe at 3-foot intervals running the full length of the yard.

QUESTION: A pretty impressive site, and especially when you put it in the context that they are conducting an investigation related to the Washington, D.C. sniper. How does that just hit you in the gut?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm moved, as all Americans are moved, by this incident. And if anything can help, we all, as Americans, want that to happen.

I did note, in the backyard, there was a car parked with Washington plates. And I would hope that they'll follow that lead up, because definitely that will relate to the ownership of the house.

QUESTION: And Washington state plates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. Correct.

QUESTION: And, at this point, you say you live behind the house. Or were you visiting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm visiting. I own a building within a block from where I'm standing.

QUESTION: Have you ever seen the folks that live at that particular residence or know anything of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. I can't address that at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: All right, a little bit more information from Tacoma, Washington.

Let's go to Mike Brooks in Atlanta. He's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer. Tell us, Mike, what do you make of this? Here, the local police know very little. They are not being told anything. Everything is being referred to the FBI out there.

BROOKS: Well, the local police know everything that's going on there. They are there, along with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, & Firearms' agents, and FBI agents there doing the search.

But, in this particular case, the resources of the FBI are being used on the scene, so that's why they are referring everything to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also were probably the ones that obtained the warrant for the property. So, again, that's why they are referring everything to the FBI in the Seattle office there.

CHUNG: In the beginning, I missed exactly what you said, Mike. Did you say that the local police do not know anything or in fact they do know and they are not able to reveal it?

BROOKS: No, they do know, Connie. They would know everything that's going on. The FBI would approach them, let them know that they are going to be serving a search warrant, ask them for their assistance.

And the local law enforcement would be there on the scene working hand in hand with the FBI. They do have a joint terrorism task force and they do have an evidence-response team there and other task forces in Seattle that work on a regular basis with the FBI. And so they would be utilized as they would during any other search.

CHUNG: All right, Mike Brooks, stay with us just another moment. We'll probably come back to you in a bit.

Let's go to Don Clark, who is in Houston, a former FBI agent.

Don, good to have you with us again.

Can you share your expertise with us? Tell us, what do you think these FBI agents are possibly looking for? And I'm sure, in a major investigation such as this, that they will simply go out there and do their job and see what they can find.

DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Well, I think it's a little bit more, Connie, than just going out there doing their job to see what they can find.

Keep in mind that these people are here. The FBI is here. The Seattle office of the FBI, which is the jurisdiction over that area there, have gotten some information from back on the East Coast, if in fact this is related. And I suppose it is. And what they've done, that information has led them to be able to obtain a search warrant.

And a search warrant has to be approved by a third party, that being a judge, which means that there was probable cause, in that judge's mind-set, for them to go out to Tacoma and do whatever they thought -- whatever that search warrant specified that they could do. So, the crime here has been shooting, which means bullets, which means casings, which means a weapon, and perhaps other information along that line to help to identify who may own that weapon or may have owned a weapon very similar to that or that same weapon. So there are just a number of things that can go on here that they can be looking for to try and put the pieces of the puzzle together.

And we can speculate why that tree trunk was taken out of the yard. And I have heard somebody else say perhaps target practice or something. Mike Brooks, who has worked on a terrorist task force, his assessment is that it is perhaps target practice. And that could be very well right.

But we have to just wait and see. We're probably not going to know exactly what the contents of that search warrant contain until it's actually been able to exposed. And then I'm sure somebody will get a copy of it. But that search warrant may well stay sealed for a period of time.

CHUNG: I don't know if you can see a monitor, Don, but we're looking at, I presume, a metal detector, either the ATF member or FBI sweeping that backyard, probably looking for just what you said: bullets, casings, weapons.

We also need to caution everyone out there that Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, has said that her sources are telling us that several search warrants have been put out and that, many times, no evidence turns up. So we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, even though we are engaging in a bit of speculation at the moment.

What else can you tell us, Don Clark? Do you have any clues? If they wrap up and leave and do not arrest anyone -- apparently, they were talking to the resident of the house, but do not consider this person a suspect in any way. He's been living there eight years. A neighbor also said that he thought the person that the authorities were looking for had actually been living there before this resident.

CLARK: Well, you know, Connie, search warrants don't always lead to an arrest in a situation. Now, certainly, we all would hope that anything that they are doing, certainly to include this search warrant, would ultimately lead to an identification and an arrest of some person who has committed this very heinous crime on the East Coast here.

But what you are going to see is that, if there has been a lot of these search warrants, one of the things we can tell is that, look, these things are ongoing. They are constantly developing a lot more information and evidence than the media knows about or that people like myself can even talk about. And that's a good thing, because, obviously, they are sifting through to figure out what can be let out and what needs to be protected in terms of evidence and solving this case.

So I think this is another step. I'm not at all surprised to learn that there have been other search warrants that's been executed throughout the course of this. And there will perhaps be some others that's going to be executed. So that's not at all surprising to learn. But I think it's a good thing, that it shows a good thing to the public. And I think it really should reassure the public that there is an awful lot of investigation going on by this body of men and women back there on the East Coast, who are trying to identify who is doing these shootings.

CHUNG: Yes, Don Clark, I would agree with you. They are just working so hard in trying to bring an end to this.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that this information that the agents are acting on in Tacoma, Washington, came from the sniper task force and that they are seeking -- the agents there are seeking evidence regarding ammunition. So this fits the puzzle.

But Don Clark and Mike Brooks were talking about -- this was a senior law enforcement official in Washington telling the Associated Press, also, that no arrests are expected soon and that this search is being conducted with the property owner's consent.

Let's go back to one of our affiliates. CNN is fortunate to have many affiliates in the area. Another one of our affiliates is KING. Let's join their coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he's fairly new to the job back East.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And must be under a tremendous amount pressure, as all of the information that comes to the public out of the investigation of the serial sniper comes from the chief of police, Charles Moose, himself.

Linda Byron is there at the scene where this dig is going on.

And, Linda, what have you seen in the last few minutes?

LINDA BYRON, KING REPORTER: Well, we continue to see police officers arriving. And, of course, the crowds are growing as word gets out that there is apparently a Northwest connection to what's going on.

I want to have the photographer, Richard, push into the duplex that is the focus of all of this investigation right now. It's a nondescript, kind of bluish-gray duplex. And you can see there's a car sitting under the carport there that has actually had a fire in the trunk. That was apparently an arson, according to a neighbor. We do not believe that's connected in any way, but a rather odd sight, that burned-out car being there several months, apparently.

It's in the back of this duplex that all of the action is taking place. The FBI began working this morning. What they have done is, gone into the backyard. They've laid out long stripes and strips of that yellow crime tape and red flags. And they are systematically going through the dirt in the backyard.

The initial focus, of course, were the two large tree stumps in the backyard. They brought in -- the fire department was called in with chain saws to cut into those tree stumps. The tree stumps were actually X-rayed. Then they were cut up and hauled away. We don't know if anything was found.

Of course, after that, we do know they began going through the dirt in that area. It appears that the target of this investigation is evidence, as you have been mentioning, that the man who owns and lives in the duplex does not appear to be a target of the investigation. In fact, we understand he has been very cooperative. Neighbors say he's a very nice man, that he lives there alone, except when his son comes to stay with him, his young son.

There's a family that lives next door. They concur that they think that this gentlemen is a very nice landlord. And, again, he does not appear to be the focus of the investigation. But, other than watching the constant parade of police going in and out, that's as much information as we've been able to gather at this point.

We are waiting for the FBI. We've been expecting a press conference here for the last about 40 minutes. But we understand that perhaps the FBI agent who is going to be speaking to us is caught in traffic. So that's the latest here in Tacoma for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is true, Linda. He is caught in traffic.

BYRON: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Linda Byron, at the scene in Tacoma, thank you.

Well, the story about the serial sniper has definitely focused on the East Coast for these three long weeks that the search has been under way. And now this search for the serial sniper has taken the nation's attention to this small plot of land on Proctor Street in Tacoma.

Steve Handelsman joins us from Rockville, Maryland, for NBC News.

Steve, I wanted to ask you first, the chief was going to have a press conference about two -- I'm just looking at the clock here -- about two hours ago and called it off, because he said, "We have new avenues to pursue." What can you tell us that you've found out from the chief about these so-called new avenues of information?

STEVE HANDELSMAN, NBC REPORTER: Jeanne (ph), it's apparent that there are a couple of things going on here. And they are apparently positive developments, according to a source I spoke to close to the task force.

No. 1 and most prominently is that search 3,000 miles from here back there in Tacoma that you've done so much reporting on. No. 2, though, is an analysis here at the task force...

CHUNG: Let's go to the neighbor that we were talking to earlier. His name is Steven Angell. He's on the phone.

Steven, can you hear me?

ANGELL: Yes.

CHUNG: Good.

Steven, since they have found bullet fragments at the location, can you tell me, did you ever hear gunfire?

ANGELL: No, nothing that you can be sure came from that house or even in this neighborhood.

CHUNG: Really? Do you normally work during the day and you're not there?

ANGELL: I've worked in the mornings. And then I'm home at night. And I wouldn't say that I've heard anything that I could be sure was around the area.

CHUNG: But usually you aren't there during the daytime, would you say?

ANGELL: In the mornings, I'm not here.

CHUNG: I see.

Have you seen anything unusual going on at that home?

ANGELL: No. That's kind of the thing is, the house seems like part of the neighborhood. It's a really family-oriented neighborhood. There's lots of children out playing all the time. And I've seen kids playing in that house -- in that yard before.

CHUNG: But, from what we understand -- and it's consistent with what you've told us -- that the resident there, the current resident is not in any way a suspect, was questioned and was happy to let the authorities go in and conduct the search.

So, as you can observe there, we seem to still see agents there. How about you, from your vantage point?

ANGELL: There's all kinds of people. Actually, a lot of spectators are driving up, pulling up now to try to find out what's going on. There's a large crowd on the far side of the house lining up to watch. But there's all kinds of cars pulling up.

The only people in uniform are the Tacoma Police Department and Tacoma Fire Department. You don't see FBI agents with the big jackets telling us who they are or again. But several people that could be the reporters or agents, people right up in the yard, that obviously are supposed to be there.

CHUNG: Can you see the backyard from where you are?

ANGELL: I can't.

CHUNG: I'll tell you what we're seeing. We're seeing about five men. And they are folding up a tarp of some sort. We were told by the public information officer for the Tacoma police that they were going to probably wrap this up in a short while. What time is it there? It must be, what, 5:30?

ANGELL: Yes, a little after 5:00.

CHUNG: Right. And, usually, this is probably a time when people are coming home.

ANGELL: And that has to do with a lot of people showing up now to watch. You see the people that haven't heard anything about this that are just getting home, wondering what's going on. And you can see people that are coming to see this. So it's quite a crowd growing, with cars and people.

CHUNG: All right, Steven, please stay on the line with us, if you would. And we'll probably get back to you in a little bit.

Our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, is in Washington. She has been reporting several aspects of this case.

The last time I talked to you, Kelli, I was wondering if you knew anything about that tree trunk that was removed, including roots, and pulled out, put in plastic, and taken away by the authorities in Tacoma, Washington.

ARENA: Well, Connie, actually, if I may, can we talk about that a little bit later?

But what I'd like to report is that Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose is expected to announce the names of two individuals later on this evening that are wanted for questioning, that investigators would like to talk to in connection with the sniper case. One source said that these individuals are not to be defined in any way as suspects. They are merely people that investigators have a very serious interest in talking to.

And there are two of them -- that development happening just now. And we are waiting for what we are told is going to be a press conference later on this evening -- no timing clear on exactly when that's going to happen.

And I'm sorry for not answering your first question. But about the tree trunk, sources are saying that investigators were primarily looking for evidence of shell casings or bullets or weapons in that yard, of course bullets and shell casings within the tree trunk itself. I am told that that was basically the primary piece of evidence that they wanted from that yard.

Lots of people saw that tree trunk being removed and taken away for testing. I'm told, obviously, it will be ballistics testing. And one can only extrapolate from that, that there may have been some target practice being done, or at least investigators think there may have been -- Connie, back to you.

CHUNG: All right, Kelli Arena, thank you.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MELISSA MALLON, SEATTLE FBI SPOKESPERSON: As you can all tell, we are conducting a search. We are not going to go into any details.

We're working with several agencies: Tacoma Police Department, Pierce County Police Department, ATF, ourselves, Federal Bureau of Investigation. We're cooperating with all the local authorities. It's pending. That's all we can say at this time. And other than that, we have no comment.

QUESTION: Are you looking for a bullet fragment or a casing?

MALLON: We can't comment regarding that.

QUESTION: Can you tell us at all what this is connected to, if anything?

MALLON: No, at this time, we can't.

QUESTION: Is anyone in custody?

MALLON: I'm sorry, I just can't make any further comments.

QUESTION: Is it the house you are looking at or an individual in the home? We understand it's a consensual search.

MALLON: Right now, we're at the house. It is a consensual search. And we are just conducting a search on the outside perimeter of the house.

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: I can't comment on that. Other than that, I can't really comment on anything else, OK?

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: Not too much longer.

QUESTION: What time did you begin the search?

MALLON: Late this afternoon.

QUESTION: What have you taken out of the backyard?

MALLON: I can't comment on that.

QUESTION: So, even though everyone is asking if this is indeed connected to Virginia, which everyone here believes it is, you can't confirm or deny that at all?

MALLON: I can't confirm or deny that at this time. No, we cannot. It's a pending investigation. As soon as we know, we'll let all of you -- all the folks know.

QUESTION: Well, can you give any reassurances to the people in the neighborhood, who are obviously somewhat concerned to watch all of this unfolding? MALLON: There is no immediate danger for anyone in this neighborhood, as far as we can tell. If there was, we would let the officials know that. But that's about all we can say.

QUESTION: Melissa, how long is this going to go on for?

MALLON: We'll be out of here fairly soon, probably in the next few hours.

QUESTION: Is there going to be some briefing by an authority here at the scene?

MALLON: If we have more information to release, we will.

QUESTION: Here or somewhere else?

MALLON: Probably back in our office or Tacoma or wherever it needs to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will probably be in Seattle.

QUESTION: Seattle FBI?

MALLON: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: So how many agents are here? Can you give us any idea what they've been doing?

MALLON: A typical search team. And that's about all I'll say with that.

QUESTION: This is a typical search team?

MALLON: It's just a group of FBI agents that are out doing the search.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what you've recovered at all?

MALLON: No. And that's it, OK?

QUESTION: And what other agencies are involved with this?

(CROSSTALK)

MALLON: What's that?

QUESTION: Do you have ATF here today?

MALLON: Yes. ATF is here today.

QUESTION: ATF. Any other federal agencies?

MALLON: No, FBI and ATF is all that's here.

QUESTION: Are they going to bring out the sniper task force?

MALLON: That's all for now, OK? Thank you.

CHUNG: All right, the conclusion of a street-side news conference in Tacoma, Washington, where the backyard of a home is being searched by the ATF and FBI.

The person you were listening to was Melissa Mallon of the FBI. She wasn't at liberty to give any information, really, to speak of. She even said that the search began in the late afternoon. However, according to other people in the neighborhood, it began earlier this morning. They are conducting a search of the house, not of an individual. And standing next to her was the Tacoma police spokesperson.

Let's now go to Wolf Blitzer, who is in Montgomery County. He's been there for days now. And, at the time, I think it was about 6:00 Eastern time we thought that Chief Moose was going to meet with reporters. He canceled that very quickly. And now we're told that he will come out again. And our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, reports that two men are being sought for questioning, not suspects, but sought for questioning.

Let's go to Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf, what can you tell us?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we do know that that statement that Chief Moose was expected to make around 6:00 never occurred, that the police captain here in Montgomery County, Nancy Demme, did emerge. And she made a very, very terse statement, but intriguing, based on what we've learned since then, Connie.

She specifically said this: "There have been developments in the case that we really need to focus on right now." She refused to elaborate, but, as we can see, there have indeed been developments that the police department here, the task force, including the ATF, the FBI, all of the other state, local and federal authorities have to focus on.

There's that development, a dramatic development, all the way across the country in Tacoma, Washington, the search of that backyard presumably for evidence that could possibly be linked to this overall sniper investigation -- and now our own Kelli Arena reporting that the police chief expected shortly to provide some information about two individuals that the local law enforcement authorities would like to question.

They are wanted for questioning. They are not being called suspects, specifically not being described as suspects, but individuals that the authorities would like to question. We don't have more details. We are standing by, though, awaiting Chief Moose. If in fact he emerges from the building right behind me, goes to the microphones, makes a statement, and if he answers questions, of course we'll have all of that live.

All of this is happening on a day that, not only have there been these developments in Tacoma, Washington, and now we're learning the description, a desire to find these two individuals. There was also a scary incident along Interstate 270 right here in Montgomery County, a major interstate that leads into the Washington-area Beltway, as you know, Connie, a very, very busy interstate highway.

A school bus driver said she saw one of those white Isuzu box vans and she thought that there was a gun inside. They closed down that interstate for some time, but now it's been reopened. They apparently didn't find any such box truck.

Connie, we're standing by for more.

CHUNG: All right, Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We appreciate it.

Jeanne Meserve, who has been at the evidence desk in Washington keeping tabs on this sniper investigation, is ready to talk to us now.

Jeanne, what can you tell us?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Connie, I can tell you that, on Monday, apparently the sniper just slipped through authorities' fingers.

You'll remember on Monday, there was an arrest of two men at a gas station in Henrico County just outside of Richmond, Virginia. Sources tell me that investigators believe the man they think is the sniper made calls from that gas station over the weekend and made another on Monday morning. Police were there, ready to jump. They jumped, but they missed the sniper by 10 minutes or less.

And these sources tell me that they are putting the blame on miscommunication between task force members in Montgomery County and local law enforcement in Henrico County and its environs -- so the sniper just being missed by a matter of minutes on Monday morning, according to these sources.

Now, there has been friction between the various members of this task force, between the task force and some of the local jurisdictions -- one official telling me tonight that the relationship at this point is being held together by -- quote -- "a hope and a prayer" tonight. Of course, if we have significant developments here, if indeed they are going to put out the request that they are looking for two people for questioning, an advance in the investigation will do a lot to smooth over the frictions that have developed, frictions over tactics and techniques and also the flow of information -- Connie.

CHUNG: Jeanne, when you said that this sniper may have slipped through the fingers of the authorities just by 10 minutes or so, you said that it was because of a miscommunication -- I missed a little bit of it -- a miscommunication between the task force and the local officers?

MESERVE: That's right. That's how it's been characterized to me, no chapter and verse on that. There was simply some delay in relaying critical information between the task force in Montgomery County and those local officials. And because of that delay, they swooped in, but they swooped in too late.

They picked up these two men who turned out to be illegal immigrants. And the sniper had gotten away. And it was so, so very close.

CHUNG: And was there any indication that the sniper was actually in that identifiable vehicle, the white truck or whatever, cream- colored?

MESERVE: I have no information.

CHUNG: Nothing further on that?

MESERVE: Excuse me, Connie. I'm having a little bit of trouble hearing you.

Whether he was in that vehicle or any vehicle that was near that description at that gas station, I cannot tell you. I do not know if they have a good vehicle description from that location. We do know that, in the course of this investigation, they have put out composites of a couple of vehicles: one a white box truck with some damage to the left rear; the other two white vans, one an Astro van, the other an Econoline van, both of those with ladder racks on top.

Those are the composites that have been put out. And, in fact, it's been a little confusing, because, at some of the shooting sites, people have automatically begun looking for vehicles that fit those descriptions. And investigators have had some fear that, because of the concentration on those, they might have missed other vehicles that were indeed significant to this investigation.

CHUNG: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thank you.

Let's go back to the other coast in this country. Let's go to the West Coast to Tacoma, Washington, again.

Deborah Waters is a neighbor in that neighborhood that's being searched.

Deborah Waters, can you hear me?

DEBORAH WATERS, TACOMA RESIDENT: Yes, I can.

CHUNG: Thank you, Deborah, for being with us.

WATERS: Thank you.

CHUNG: Tell me, do I understand directly that you heard gunfire about a month ago?

WATERS: It wasn't a month ago. We have heard gunfire in this neighborhood -- because it's not the best neighborhood -- before. But we were just trying to remember stuff. Me and my husband were going together trying to remember things. And we do remember that, before the guy moved in that moved in now, that lived there now, we did hear a lot of gunfire in the neighborhood.

And we were actually -- we actually called 911. And they heard the gunfire and stuff. And then the police came out. But nothing ever came of that. CHUNG: All right. Now, once again, when did that happen?

WATERS: That was -- it was probably around December of last year, because it was before the man that lives in the house now moved in the house.

CHUNG: How long have you been living in that neighborhood, Deborah?

WATERS: We've just lived here a year, since October of last year.

CHUNG: And you know the person who lives in the house now?

WATERS: Yes, we do.

CHUNG: And this person, obviously, as we have reported, is not considered to be anybody who is even a suspect, witness, or anything of the kind, and gladly allowed agents into his home and into the backyard to conduct their search. You say that you heard the gunfire on other occasions when the previous resident was living there?

WATERS: That's correct.

CHUNG: How often would you say you would hear that gunfire?

WATERS: Maybe -- since we moved in in October, we would hear it maybe once a month. And then it started getting more regular. And that's when we started calling 911.

CHUNG: And each time you called 911, did they respond? Did the police come?

WATERS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. One time, the 911 operator actually heard the gunfire in the background and she asked my husband -- she goes, "Are you outside?"

And he said, "Yes, I'm trying to figure out where the shots are coming from."

And she said, "Well, hurry up and get back inside." So, that was the last time that we heard them. And we haven't heard gunfire around the neighborhood for a while now.

CHUNG: Deborah, when the police came, did they knock on every door in the neighborhood, including yours?

WATERS: No, ma'am, they did not. They haven't even said anything to us at this point. And we live right across the street.

CHUNG: No, I mean back in -- I'm talking about back in December, when the operator heard...

WATERS: Oh.

CHUNG: Sorry? WATERS: Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, they came around then and they looked around and stuff. They didn't actually come up to our door and knock on it. But my husband was outside the one time that they heard them actually over the phone. And he talked to them. And they just said that they would try to -- that they were going to canvas the area and try to find out what they could. But, nothing, like I said, ever came of that, as far as we know.

CHUNG: I'm sorry, I missed just a little bit of what you said. Did they actually knock on the door of that house, as you recall, or were you able to see?

WATERS: No. No, they didn't actually knock on the door of that house, no.

CHUNG: How far away do you live from the home?

WATERS: We're right across the street, directly across the street.

CHUNG: Oh, so you have a very good vantage point.

WATERS: Yes, ma'am.

CHUNG: When you heard the gunfire, could you and your husband tell that it was coming from that house, or was it?

WATERS: No, we couldn't tell. In fact, it didn't sound like it was coming from that house. It sounded like it was somewhere close, but I wouldn't say that close. We kind of felt like maybe it was -- there is what we call a dirt hill right up the road from us that's just a big area, where there's just dirt hills and stuff that the kids go and play and different things like that.

And we thought maybe it was coming from over there. But now that this is going on, we thought maybe it was actually closer. We just really couldn't tell.

CHUNG: Do you know the people who live there now and did you know the people who lived there before?

WATERS: We did not know the people that lived there before. In fact, now, thinking back on it, we hardly ever saw anybody from that -- it's actually a duplex. We never really saw anybody from that side of the house come out a lot or anything. So we can't really say about those people.

But we do know the people that live there now. And he comes in and out all the time. And he's just a really great person.

CHUNG: Do you mind telling me what he does for a living?

WATERS: As far as we, know he owns his own auto shop, works on cars. CHUNG: And married? I was told by another neighbor that there were children there.

WATERS: Yes, there are some older girls that live on one side of the duplex, as far as we know and as far as we've seen. And the man that owns the house does have a son that plays with our son, but he doesn't live there all the time. He just visits sometimes.

CHUNG: I see.

Are you and your husband familiar with guns enough to know, when gunfire goes off, if you can in any way figure out what kind of gun it was coming from?

WATERS: Well, my husband is actually in the military. He's in the Army. He's based at Fort Lewis. And he can't -- he's not allowed to do an interview right now. He doesn't know anything, necessarily, or not know anything. But he's not allowed to say anything or do any interviews, because he's in the military, until he speaks to his supervisor.

So they're going to be calling him in a little while. So he does know enough about guns to really talk more about it more than I do. But, like I said, he can't do that right now.

CHUNG: I understand.

Perhaps you can tell me what he has told you? In other words, do you have any idea? Did he say, "Oh, I know that that sounds like a" what?

WATERS: No, he hasn't said anything like that. But he did remind me. He said: "Well, don't you remember when we heard all those gunshots all the time and we called the police?"

And I was like, "Oh, yes." That refreshed my memory that that had been going on.

CHUNG: All right, thank...

WATERS: Because...

CHUNG: Yes, go ahead, Deborah. What did you say?

WATERS: I was just going to say, because it hadn't happened in so long, we had kind of just thought that maybe it wasn't anything to worry about. And now that we look back, maybe it should have been something we should have been more worried about.

CHUNG: Well, Deborah, we'll try to get back to you -- Deborah Waters. We'd like to get back to you, certainly when your husband is available to speak and if he gets approval from his higher-ups, all right?

Deborah, thank you.

Let's now go to Lilian Kim of CNN. She's on the scene there in Tacoma, Washington.

Lilian? Lilian Kim, can you hear me? I guess she can't.

Once again, what we are witnessing, what we are watching now is a search that is continuing by the FBI and ATF agents and local police in Tacoma, Washington. And it's a search in the backyard of a person's home. The person who owns the home and those who live there are not considered suspects or witnesses or anything of the kind. But the search is being conducted in connection with the Washington sniper case.

A tree trunk has been removed from the home, wrapped in plastic, taken away. A front-loader was there earlier and has now gone. We are told that several search warrants over the course of this investigation in the Washington area have been conducted. Several search warrants have been issued. But, so, indeed, perhaps no evidence will emerge.

Let us go now to Mike Brooks, who is in Atlanta. He's a former Metropolitan D.C. police officer.

Mike, can you give us any of your thoughts? What do you think?

BROOKS: Well, what I'm hearing from sources, Connie, is that the main focus of this search in this backyard of this duplex in Tacoma was the stump.

We saw earlier in live footage from the helicopter of a stump being loaded on the back of a truck. The stump apparently was supposed to have been used as target practice. So we know we have the Tacoma police, Pierce County Sheriff's, the FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They started a search early this morning.

We see the backyard gridded off in yellow tape. What we saw earlier was agents going through with metal detectors. What they were looking for were shell casings or any bullet fragments in and around that yard and also any possible weapons that could be under the surface of the grass there.

They grid the area off, do a methodical search, take their time. They are in no hurry at all. And we are hearing, though, that the main focus of that search was that stump. The FBI evidence response team out in Seattle is very talented. They know what they are doing, along with agents from the ATF. After this stump is recovered, they will most likely take any evidence that is found in the stump, take it back to the ATF lab in Rockville for comparison with the other pieces of bullet and bullet fragment that we have found in the past -- Connie.

CHUNG: All right, thank you very much, Mike Brooks, in Atlanta.

Let's now go to Lilian Kim. She's on the phone for CNN.

Lilian, can you hear me?

LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Connie.

CHUNG: Can you tell me you know what about the investigation in Tacoma, Washington?

KIM: Well, we just arrived at the scene. And the FBI here, the representative is being very tightlipped. So, the information that I have is information that you probably already have heard.

Federal agents continue to search this property. It is a residential duplex. And we've been told by sources that the search going on here is connected to the D.C. area shootings. Sources say, so far, agents have removed a tree trunk that they have sawed off at its root. They then wrapped it in plastic before taking it away.

It is believed that the tree trunk might have been used for target practice and may contain bullets for bullet fragments. Sources also tell us that authorities have been looking for shell casings that may be in the yard. They have sectioned off the backyard in a grid pattern. Now, this search began early this afternoon. And it is expected to be wrapped up in a couple of hours.

In this area, there is a lot of media here, as you can expect. A lot of people here were surprised that something -- a very low-key neighborhood -- that they are very surprised that this area is connected -- possibly connected to events on the other side of the country. So, a lot of people here are just very surprised and watching carefully as investigators search the property -- Connie.

CHUNG: All right, Lilian, thank you so much.

Just to recap once again: This search in Tacoma, Washington, continues. We don't know the precise connection, but we are told that the sniper task force notified authorities in Tacoma, Washington -- in Seattle, Washington as well -- and asked that this search be conducted.

One of the most dramatic developments tonight is Jeanne Meserve's report that authorities may very well have allowed the sniper to slip through their fingers by maybe 10 minutes or so, that, indeed, he was making calls from a pay phone, but they weren't able to get there because of a miscommunication between the task force and some local police.

So, once again, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose was supposed to hold a news conference, or at least meet with reporters, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight. But his meeting with reporters was canceled.

And now it's expected that he will try and meet with reporters again. We're told that it will be a news conference. Perhaps it is coming up shortly. And he will announce and name two people that authorities would like to talk to. These two people are not suspects. They are just people that might very well help in this investigation.

I'm Connie Chung in New York. We thank you for joining us here on CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT and this special report. Now on to "LARRY KING LIVE," who picks up our coverage.

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





Residence For Clues>