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Maryland Police End Search Through Woods

Aired October 09, 2002 - 14:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in one Maryland community have stopped searching the woods for a possible sniper. They were following up on a tip from a witness, just one of the hundreds of leads they've received so far.
Let's go to CNN's Patty Davis. She is still on the scene.

Patty, what do you know?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, police have called off this search here in this park. They were searching because earlier today they received a 911 call, someone saying that they had seen going into this entrance behind me a man, a white man, in a dark blue jacket, a blue baseball cap, in a dark blue -- perhaps a Ford -- entering this area. The man also had a black bag, a long, black bag. So they were concerned. That person called 911.

Police say that their search turned up no sign of anyone in this park.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE RICHARDSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE: Just a few minutes ago, members of our emergency services team, as well as some patrol officers, members of the FBI, the ATF, Park Police, State Police, just finished up a search of a wooded area that a witness indicated he saw a man walking into. Officers are confident nobody is in the wooded area. Therefore, they've broken down the scene and we will be clearing here momentarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: This woman was stopped here today as she drove by police. They wanted to know why she was in this area. But now they say she has no connection to this investigation today.

Heavily-armed police spent several hours in this area, in these woods. FBI helicopters flying over the area.

Now, schools here in Fort Washington, which is located -- it's southeast of the downtown Washington area, as you see it on a map -- schools here are still on lockdown. These woods back on to the Rose Valley Elementary School. But these schools have been on lockdown the past few days anyway; they took no extra precaution.

Police say, though, this search, a dead end. No indication that anybody was in these woods at all. But the police are saying to keep those tips coming. This is how they intend to find that sniper. They say these tips are the way that this normally works out. There are very few clues in this case, and they believe they will eventually find him from tips by neighbors like this one.

PHILLIPS: Patty, what made this tip so credible? What did this witness see?

DAVIS: They do, in fact, they have made a point of saying this witness was indeed credible. It was someone right in this immediate neighborhood where we are saying that they did see someone. And anyone with a long, black bag nowadays is going to raise some suspicion.

But police are saying yesterday they also received telephone calls of people walking around with these long bags. They turned out to be surveyors, surveyors with surveyors in those bags. They don't know if that was the case this time, too. But they took the extra precaution today of actually going into the woods and checking it out -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Patty Davis, thank you so much.

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






Aired October 9, 2002 - 14:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in one Maryland community have stopped searching the woods for a possible sniper. They were following up on a tip from a witness, just one of the hundreds of leads they've received so far.
Let's go to CNN's Patty Davis. She is still on the scene.

Patty, what do you know?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, police have called off this search here in this park. They were searching because earlier today they received a 911 call, someone saying that they had seen going into this entrance behind me a man, a white man, in a dark blue jacket, a blue baseball cap, in a dark blue -- perhaps a Ford -- entering this area. The man also had a black bag, a long, black bag. So they were concerned. That person called 911.

Police say that their search turned up no sign of anyone in this park.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE RICHARDSON, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE: Just a few minutes ago, members of our emergency services team, as well as some patrol officers, members of the FBI, the ATF, Park Police, State Police, just finished up a search of a wooded area that a witness indicated he saw a man walking into. Officers are confident nobody is in the wooded area. Therefore, they've broken down the scene and we will be clearing here momentarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: This woman was stopped here today as she drove by police. They wanted to know why she was in this area. But now they say she has no connection to this investigation today.

Heavily-armed police spent several hours in this area, in these woods. FBI helicopters flying over the area.

Now, schools here in Fort Washington, which is located -- it's southeast of the downtown Washington area, as you see it on a map -- schools here are still on lockdown. These woods back on to the Rose Valley Elementary School. But these schools have been on lockdown the past few days anyway; they took no extra precaution.

Police say, though, this search, a dead end. No indication that anybody was in these woods at all. But the police are saying to keep those tips coming. This is how they intend to find that sniper. They say these tips are the way that this normally works out. There are very few clues in this case, and they believe they will eventually find him from tips by neighbors like this one.

PHILLIPS: Patty, what made this tip so credible? What did this witness see?

DAVIS: They do, in fact, they have made a point of saying this witness was indeed credible. It was someone right in this immediate neighborhood where we are saying that they did see someone. And anyone with a long, black bag nowadays is going to raise some suspicion.

But police are saying yesterday they also received telephone calls of people walking around with these long bags. They turned out to be surveyors, surveyors with surveyors in those bags. They don't know if that was the case this time, too. But they took the extra precaution today of actually going into the woods and checking it out -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Patty Davis, thank you so much.

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