Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
Ohio Police Investigate String of Shootings
Aired December 06, 2003 - 12:09 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Off the weather beat now to a story that has folks in Columbus very concerned. Police in Ohio investigating that string of interstate highway shootings near Columbus now say 14 of them are linked. And today transportation officials are closing part of the highway to investigate further.
CNN's Martin Savidge is following the story live from Ohio's capital city -- Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Renay.
Not an easy thing to shut down a major highway, it is part of the federal interstate system; 23 miles will be closed down from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. It's estimated about 70,000 to 80,000 vehicles on a typical day will use that stretch of road. Now they have to find and alternate route.
The reason they're doing that is that authorities want to bring some rather sophisticated technology to bear to try to try to help solve this shooting spree that has been going on for quite some time. They may use lasers to try to track the trajectory of some of the shots that have been fired. And that may lead them to more clues to who is behind it, whether it is an individual or individuals.
They're motivated by the fact the number have shootings have now gone up, they're totaled at 14, when up by two yesterday. It's actually because of information that police were able to investigate shootings that happened on Sunday. The first one, Sunday morning, a woman driving on the highway, hears a loud noise, gets a flat tire. Police investigate find out it had a bullet hole in it.
And then there was a house later in the day or perhaps on Monday. Nobody at home at the time, but a bullet fired through a wall and the bullet itself actually ended up on the carpet. The owners turned it over to police. Police found that in fact it did match four other bullets they have including one that fatally wounded a 62-year-old woman on November 25th. Nobody else has been hurt.
Authorities believe somebody out there may have heard something or may have seen something. This is what sheriff's investigators were talking about, public involvement, here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The very nature of these shooting incidents indicate the person or persons responsible are willing to expose themselves to being viewed by the public. In addition, it's not uncommon for a person to brag or talk about their activity with someone they know or trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: So authorities know that if they're going to get a big break in this case, it's probably somebody who sees something or somebody who hears something. So far, they haven't had that big break. They'll begin closing down the highway at 4 o'clock, but it will be closed from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: All right, Martin Savidge, reporting live from Columbus, Ohio.
Thank you so much, Martin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 6, 2003 - 12:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Off the weather beat now to a story that has folks in Columbus very concerned. Police in Ohio investigating that string of interstate highway shootings near Columbus now say 14 of them are linked. And today transportation officials are closing part of the highway to investigate further.
CNN's Martin Savidge is following the story live from Ohio's capital city -- Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Renay.
Not an easy thing to shut down a major highway, it is part of the federal interstate system; 23 miles will be closed down from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern. It's estimated about 70,000 to 80,000 vehicles on a typical day will use that stretch of road. Now they have to find and alternate route.
The reason they're doing that is that authorities want to bring some rather sophisticated technology to bear to try to try to help solve this shooting spree that has been going on for quite some time. They may use lasers to try to track the trajectory of some of the shots that have been fired. And that may lead them to more clues to who is behind it, whether it is an individual or individuals.
They're motivated by the fact the number have shootings have now gone up, they're totaled at 14, when up by two yesterday. It's actually because of information that police were able to investigate shootings that happened on Sunday. The first one, Sunday morning, a woman driving on the highway, hears a loud noise, gets a flat tire. Police investigate find out it had a bullet hole in it.
And then there was a house later in the day or perhaps on Monday. Nobody at home at the time, but a bullet fired through a wall and the bullet itself actually ended up on the carpet. The owners turned it over to police. Police found that in fact it did match four other bullets they have including one that fatally wounded a 62-year-old woman on November 25th. Nobody else has been hurt.
Authorities believe somebody out there may have heard something or may have seen something. This is what sheriff's investigators were talking about, public involvement, here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The very nature of these shooting incidents indicate the person or persons responsible are willing to expose themselves to being viewed by the public. In addition, it's not uncommon for a person to brag or talk about their activity with someone they know or trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: So authorities know that if they're going to get a big break in this case, it's probably somebody who sees something or somebody who hears something. So far, they haven't had that big break. They'll begin closing down the highway at 4 o'clock, but it will be closed from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: All right, Martin Savidge, reporting live from Columbus, Ohio.
Thank you so much, Martin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
