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American Morning
Report: Second Sniper Letter Found
Aired October 23, 2002 - 07:01 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new letter from the sniper. According to the "Baltimore Sun," police have a second letter from the scene of yesterday's fatal shooting repeating the sniper's demand for $10 million.
Bill Hemmer has the day off. He's actually in the process of moving to New York.
Reporting from Montgomery County, Maryland this morning is Carol Lin. And I know you've got a lot of turf to cover, and I'm going to let you get started right now.
Good morning -- Carol.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula. We're going to begin with that "Baltimore Sun" report.
According to this morning's "Baltimore Sun," police found a multi-page letter at the scene of yesterday's shooting in Aspen Hill, Maryland, making another demand for $10 million to be wired to a domestic bank account.
Now, this is part of an ongoing cryptic communication that seems to be occurring between police and the man they believe to be the sniper.
Now, over the weekend, there was a letter found in Ashland, Virginia, near the Ponderosa restaurant, where a 37-year-old man was shot and killed (sic). And in this letter, it was described as a long, rambling, critical diatribe, and the postscript in this letter may be a threat that -- quote -- "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time."
As a result of that, there has been a lot of discussion across the Washington, D.C. area as to what to do with about a million schoolchildren who need to attend class. So, the decision has been made in the Washington, D.C. area, so far, to keep the schools open. There is going to be a heavy police presence around these different campuses.
Washington, D.C. schools, the schools in the District of Columbia, are going to remain open, but they are canceling bus service today as a precaution.
Here in Montgomery County, schools are going to remain open, but they will be under Code Blue. And what that means, Paula, is basically one upgrade from a lockdown. Kids will be required to stay in class during lunch and recess periods. The campus will remain closed, and the principal and teachers will remain vigilant with extra security around the perimeter.
Now, getting back to that letter over the weekend found in Ashland, Virginia, that was the first demand that police are saying -- or sources are saying and telling CNN, the first demand for $10 million.
Now, last night, Chief Moose made a response to the man believed to be the sniper, saying that they cannot comply electronically with these demands, that they are open to options, that they are willing to provide an 800 number to this man to continue the dialogue, or even a private secure post office box so that they can correspond if he feels more comfortable to that.
Then, Chief Moose made a very impassioned plea that they can do all of this, but to please stop the killing.
Conrad Johnson, the bus driver who was killed yesterday, we're still waiting for the ballistics report. We're going to have a briefing at noon today, and we're going to keep you posted.
ZAHN: But I guess the "Baltimore Sun" reporting would suggest that they pretty much know this was the work of the sniper yesterday, if they found a letter at the scene. Is anybody connecting those dots this morning among investigators?
LIN: Well, connecting the dots in the sense that, Paula, these investigators are very quick to debunk any shooting that is not related to the sniper investigation. So, so far, they are treating the shooting yesterday in Aspen Hill as one of the sniper shootings. It needs to be confirmed officially through the ballistics, but so far, that is being treated as a formality, Paula. And if this is the case, this would be the 10th victim, the 13th person shot, and the 10th person to die at the hands of this sniper.
ZAHN: Carol, now that the text of the first letter has been made public, I understand a number of parents were outraged that they weren't aware of it until yesterday, although law enforcement officials tell us that they told the local municipalities of this very specific threat against children.
Just give us a sense of how parents continue to react to this bombshell that was publicly announced yesterday for the first time in the afternoon.
LIN: Paula, you hear different things from parents -- I mean, many parents who say that they don't want to teach their children to live in fear and that life has to go on.
But I spoke to a parent yesterday who said that he had been in touch with Tasker Middle School, which is where the 13-year-old boy was shot and killed (sic). His son goes there, and he said, you know what? I don't care about the dialogue between the school district as to what they're going to do or not going to do. I am going to pull my children out of school right now until they catch this man, because I simply don't trust that the security around the perimeters of these schools is going to be enough to protect his son and daughter.
So, you get different responses, but I think parents are beginning to take things into their own hands, because they're scared.
ZAHN: Yes, and it's a very personal judgment whether you decide to end up sending your child to school or not based on that information.
Carol Lin, thanks. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning.
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 23, 2002 - 07:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new letter from the sniper. According to the "Baltimore Sun," police have a second letter from the scene of yesterday's fatal shooting repeating the sniper's demand for $10 million.
Bill Hemmer has the day off. He's actually in the process of moving to New York.
Reporting from Montgomery County, Maryland this morning is Carol Lin. And I know you've got a lot of turf to cover, and I'm going to let you get started right now.
Good morning -- Carol.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Paula. We're going to begin with that "Baltimore Sun" report.
According to this morning's "Baltimore Sun," police found a multi-page letter at the scene of yesterday's shooting in Aspen Hill, Maryland, making another demand for $10 million to be wired to a domestic bank account.
Now, this is part of an ongoing cryptic communication that seems to be occurring between police and the man they believe to be the sniper.
Now, over the weekend, there was a letter found in Ashland, Virginia, near the Ponderosa restaurant, where a 37-year-old man was shot and killed (sic). And in this letter, it was described as a long, rambling, critical diatribe, and the postscript in this letter may be a threat that -- quote -- "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time."
As a result of that, there has been a lot of discussion across the Washington, D.C. area as to what to do with about a million schoolchildren who need to attend class. So, the decision has been made in the Washington, D.C. area, so far, to keep the schools open. There is going to be a heavy police presence around these different campuses.
Washington, D.C. schools, the schools in the District of Columbia, are going to remain open, but they are canceling bus service today as a precaution.
Here in Montgomery County, schools are going to remain open, but they will be under Code Blue. And what that means, Paula, is basically one upgrade from a lockdown. Kids will be required to stay in class during lunch and recess periods. The campus will remain closed, and the principal and teachers will remain vigilant with extra security around the perimeter.
Now, getting back to that letter over the weekend found in Ashland, Virginia, that was the first demand that police are saying -- or sources are saying and telling CNN, the first demand for $10 million.
Now, last night, Chief Moose made a response to the man believed to be the sniper, saying that they cannot comply electronically with these demands, that they are open to options, that they are willing to provide an 800 number to this man to continue the dialogue, or even a private secure post office box so that they can correspond if he feels more comfortable to that.
Then, Chief Moose made a very impassioned plea that they can do all of this, but to please stop the killing.
Conrad Johnson, the bus driver who was killed yesterday, we're still waiting for the ballistics report. We're going to have a briefing at noon today, and we're going to keep you posted.
ZAHN: But I guess the "Baltimore Sun" reporting would suggest that they pretty much know this was the work of the sniper yesterday, if they found a letter at the scene. Is anybody connecting those dots this morning among investigators?
LIN: Well, connecting the dots in the sense that, Paula, these investigators are very quick to debunk any shooting that is not related to the sniper investigation. So, so far, they are treating the shooting yesterday in Aspen Hill as one of the sniper shootings. It needs to be confirmed officially through the ballistics, but so far, that is being treated as a formality, Paula. And if this is the case, this would be the 10th victim, the 13th person shot, and the 10th person to die at the hands of this sniper.
ZAHN: Carol, now that the text of the first letter has been made public, I understand a number of parents were outraged that they weren't aware of it until yesterday, although law enforcement officials tell us that they told the local municipalities of this very specific threat against children.
Just give us a sense of how parents continue to react to this bombshell that was publicly announced yesterday for the first time in the afternoon.
LIN: Paula, you hear different things from parents -- I mean, many parents who say that they don't want to teach their children to live in fear and that life has to go on.
But I spoke to a parent yesterday who said that he had been in touch with Tasker Middle School, which is where the 13-year-old boy was shot and killed (sic). His son goes there, and he said, you know what? I don't care about the dialogue between the school district as to what they're going to do or not going to do. I am going to pull my children out of school right now until they catch this man, because I simply don't trust that the security around the perimeters of these schools is going to be enough to protect his son and daughter.
So, you get different responses, but I think parents are beginning to take things into their own hands, because they're scared.
ZAHN: Yes, and it's a very personal judgment whether you decide to end up sending your child to school or not based on that information.
Carol Lin, thanks. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
