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American Morning

Montgomery County Police Call in Reinforcements

Aired October 04, 2002 - 07:15   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: With little to go on, federal and local authorities today in Maryland hunting now for what they describe as a "very calculating killer" or possibly killers. Five people randomly shot to death, all within a 16-hour period, in a very quiet, affluent area of Montgomery County. And today, people in that community are even afraid to step outside.
The police chief this morning will be very busy. In fact, next hour, he'll hold a briefing with reporters there outside of D.C.

A short time ago, though, he did give an update on what's happening in his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: It is not 100 percent, but 90 percent is very good and very close. So, we're dealing with someone shooting from a distance, someone using a high- velocity round, 90-percent sure that it is a .223 round from a rifle, a hunting rifle, an assault rifle.

Clearly, at this point, we don't have any information that it is an illegal weapon. There are a number of weapons in the package that you will see that are capable of firing this type of round.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: They have brought in reinforcements. The hunt is on again today before the sun comes up.

Patty Davis now live this morning in Montgomery County, tracking it from there for us.

Patty -- hello. What are they saying?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

Police say that they do have over 150 credible leads so far in this case. They continue to search for a white-box-type van that someone saw speeding away from the scene of one of the killings yesterday, and people who live around here are understandably on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (voice-over): This Mobil gas station in Aspen Hill, Maryland is now reopened; flowers at the pump, where taxi driver Prentkumar Walekar was gunned down Thursday morning. Later, rush-hour traffic heavy as usual, but streets were empty up the road in this residential area.

Those on the streets in shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrible, devastating, unbelievable.

DAVIS: With five people dead, and what police describe as a "skilled shooter" on the loose, the sentiment among many here:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will stay home. Yes, I'll stay home (ph).

DAVIS: Jorge Cruz (ph) says he considered not sending his 10- year-old to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he can (ph), you know, walk (ph) the block by himself, but today, I walked with him.

DAVIS: Montgomery County schools operating under "code blue," locking students inside, not knowing where the gunman might strike next.

(on camera): Police in Montgomery County say this is normally a very safe area, with just 15 to 20 murders a year. What has people who live here so concerned is not only that there were five killings in one day, but that they were random.

(Voice-over): Less than a mile away at a busy shopping center, where 34-year-old Sarah Ramos was shot in the head and killed, people were nervous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a shame that you feel like you have to run to your car to keep from being shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can either live in fear, or we can choose to not live in fear.

DAVIS: Nervous or not, Mary Lynn Arthur (ph) said she chose not to live in fear, hoping, like many in Montgomery County, that the killer will soon be caught and life returned to normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Police are asking people to be aware of their surroundings, talk to them, tell them whatever that they are seeing, if they see anything out place.

There is now a $50,000 reward that authorities have put out in connection with the arrest of the killer or killers -- Bill.

HEMMER: Patty, thanks.

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 4, 2002 - 07:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: With little to go on, federal and local authorities today in Maryland hunting now for what they describe as a "very calculating killer" or possibly killers. Five people randomly shot to death, all within a 16-hour period, in a very quiet, affluent area of Montgomery County. And today, people in that community are even afraid to step outside.
The police chief this morning will be very busy. In fact, next hour, he'll hold a briefing with reporters there outside of D.C.

A short time ago, though, he did give an update on what's happening in his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: It is not 100 percent, but 90 percent is very good and very close. So, we're dealing with someone shooting from a distance, someone using a high- velocity round, 90-percent sure that it is a .223 round from a rifle, a hunting rifle, an assault rifle.

Clearly, at this point, we don't have any information that it is an illegal weapon. There are a number of weapons in the package that you will see that are capable of firing this type of round.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: They have brought in reinforcements. The hunt is on again today before the sun comes up.

Patty Davis now live this morning in Montgomery County, tracking it from there for us.

Patty -- hello. What are they saying?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

Police say that they do have over 150 credible leads so far in this case. They continue to search for a white-box-type van that someone saw speeding away from the scene of one of the killings yesterday, and people who live around here are understandably on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS (voice-over): This Mobil gas station in Aspen Hill, Maryland is now reopened; flowers at the pump, where taxi driver Prentkumar Walekar was gunned down Thursday morning. Later, rush-hour traffic heavy as usual, but streets were empty up the road in this residential area.

Those on the streets in shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrible, devastating, unbelievable.

DAVIS: With five people dead, and what police describe as a "skilled shooter" on the loose, the sentiment among many here:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will stay home. Yes, I'll stay home (ph).

DAVIS: Jorge Cruz (ph) says he considered not sending his 10- year-old to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he can (ph), you know, walk (ph) the block by himself, but today, I walked with him.

DAVIS: Montgomery County schools operating under "code blue," locking students inside, not knowing where the gunman might strike next.

(on camera): Police in Montgomery County say this is normally a very safe area, with just 15 to 20 murders a year. What has people who live here so concerned is not only that there were five killings in one day, but that they were random.

(Voice-over): Less than a mile away at a busy shopping center, where 34-year-old Sarah Ramos was shot in the head and killed, people were nervous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a shame that you feel like you have to run to your car to keep from being shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can either live in fear, or we can choose to not live in fear.

DAVIS: Nervous or not, Mary Lynn Arthur (ph) said she chose not to live in fear, hoping, like many in Montgomery County, that the killer will soon be caught and life returned to normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: Police are asking people to be aware of their surroundings, talk to them, tell them whatever that they are seeing, if they see anything out place.

There is now a $50,000 reward that authorities have put out in connection with the arrest of the killer or killers -- Bill.

HEMMER: Patty, thanks.

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