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American Morning

Maryland Police Checking Another Shooting That Could be Linked to Sniper Suspects

Aired November 04, 2002 - 08:12   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: Back to the sniper investigation, police in Maryland are checking on another shooting that could be linked to the sniper suspects. A 55-year-old man was shot six times on September 5 and left for dead. He survived. But a laptop computer was stolen from him, one similar to the laptop found when John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested.
Then, over a week later, on September 14, Benny Oberoi was shot outside a beer and wine store in Silver Spring, Maryland. Now police say that shooting could have been the work of the D.C. area sniper suspects.

Benny Oberoi joins us now from Washington, along with Arnie Zelkovitz, who owns that store and actually witnessed the shooting.

Welcome, gentlemen.

Good to have you with us.

BENNY OBEROI, WOUNDED SEPTEMBER 14: Hi.

ARNIE ZELKOVITZ, SHOP OWNER: Thank you.

ZAHN: First of all, Benny, if you could, take us back to September 14. What do you remember about that night?

OBEROI: It was a normal day, a good day, though. We were closing the store as normal at 10:10. We were outside locking the door and all of a sudden we heard a shot and not as, I was on the ground, I mean like in a few seconds.

ZAHN: And how seriously wounded were you?

OBEROI: Well, I got shot in the back on the right side, right next to the spine. And it bruised my kidney, liver, diaphragm and colon from three different places.

ZAHN: How is your recovery going?

OBEROI: Yes, it's getting better. Every day it's OK. It's getting back to normal.

ZAHN: Now, Arnie, Benny just described how he hit the ground, obviously, after being shot. What did you see that night?

ZELKOVITZ: Well, after I locked the store I was walking to the parking lot and I heard the shot. At first I thought maybe it was a car backfiring. I realized that it wasn't within a second, I guess, and Benny kind of twisted, said, "I'm hurt, I'm hurt," and then he went down. And we didn't see anything. Nobody ever approached us. Nobody tried to rob us or anything. We never really saw anything.

ZAHN: So you never saw the alleged shooters and you never saw a car trying to flee the parking lot?

ZELKOVITZ: No. We never saw anything. When Benny went down, I bent over him, knelt over him and I saw the gunshot and then just kind of started yelling for 911.

ZAHN: And, Benny, you were a very lucky man that your injuries, I guess, weren't worse than that. Now at what point did investigators come to you and tell you there could be a link between your shooting and the sniper spree?

OBEROI: Well, they did, they like, it was like 18, 19 days they called us back. And they were like we don't know what's going on. We called them right away when the October 3 shooting started. It looks just like our shooting happened on September 14. So just a few days later, a few days later they told us it's connected to the sniper shootings.

ZAHN: And, Benny, what made you think that the two could have been linked? What were some of the similarities that you could remember?

OBEROI: OK, it's right, our store is right like 40 seconds away from a highway exit and the other thing is nobody saw anything what happened that night. There were a lot of people in the parking lot and no robbery attempt, no motive, nothing like that.

ZAHN: If, in fact, Arnie, it's established that the snipers were responsible for shooting Benny, does that give you any sense of relief...

OBEROI: Oh, yes.

ZAHN: ... that the person or persons responsible for this are the right ones?

OBEROI: A lot of relief.

ZELKOVITZ: Yes, well, Friday they did determine that it was the sniper.

ZAHN: Right.

ZELKOVITZ: And that, yes. There's a certain sense of relief. Actually, for me there was relief October 2 when there was the shooting at the shopper's food warehouse, because before that we had absolutely no idea why anybody would have taken a shot. Now there's, in a way there's some satisfaction, because it took us from the time of the shooting on the second until last Friday for them to determine and -- that it actually was. And it was something that we knew all along.

ZAHN: You know, it's interesting, we've talked with so many folks victimized by the alleged sniper and I'm just wondering if you feel, Arnie, any of the survivor's guilt that some folks have told us who witnessed these shootings have?

ZELKOVITZ: Yes, I think so. At the time of the shooting, I felt very guilty. Yes. I think maybe I'd feel a bit more guilty if Benny wasn't doing so well. You know, we thank god every day that he's doing well. And, you know, there's certainly a sense of relief that it wasn't me and that Benny's going to be fine.

I'm not really sure how the whole thing has hit me yet. I'm not sure that if at some point in time down the future I'm not going to look at this a little bit differently than I do now.

ZAHN: Well, we would certainly understand that.

Benny, I saw you wanted to say one final thing there.

OBEROI: I'm happy I'm OK, you know? That's all. I'm very lucky, I feel. I feel very lucky.

ZAHN: Well, we will root for you from here.

Benny Oberoi and Arnie Zelkovitz, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning.

We appreciate it.

OBEROI: Thank you.

ZELKOVITZ: Thank you.

ZAHN: Good luck.

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





Linked to Sniper Suspects>


Aired November 4, 2002 - 08:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the sniper investigation, police in Maryland are checking on another shooting that could be linked to the sniper suspects. A 55-year-old man was shot six times on September 5 and left for dead. He survived. But a laptop computer was stolen from him, one similar to the laptop found when John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested.
Then, over a week later, on September 14, Benny Oberoi was shot outside a beer and wine store in Silver Spring, Maryland. Now police say that shooting could have been the work of the D.C. area sniper suspects.

Benny Oberoi joins us now from Washington, along with Arnie Zelkovitz, who owns that store and actually witnessed the shooting.

Welcome, gentlemen.

Good to have you with us.

BENNY OBEROI, WOUNDED SEPTEMBER 14: Hi.

ARNIE ZELKOVITZ, SHOP OWNER: Thank you.

ZAHN: First of all, Benny, if you could, take us back to September 14. What do you remember about that night?

OBEROI: It was a normal day, a good day, though. We were closing the store as normal at 10:10. We were outside locking the door and all of a sudden we heard a shot and not as, I was on the ground, I mean like in a few seconds.

ZAHN: And how seriously wounded were you?

OBEROI: Well, I got shot in the back on the right side, right next to the spine. And it bruised my kidney, liver, diaphragm and colon from three different places.

ZAHN: How is your recovery going?

OBEROI: Yes, it's getting better. Every day it's OK. It's getting back to normal.

ZAHN: Now, Arnie, Benny just described how he hit the ground, obviously, after being shot. What did you see that night?

ZELKOVITZ: Well, after I locked the store I was walking to the parking lot and I heard the shot. At first I thought maybe it was a car backfiring. I realized that it wasn't within a second, I guess, and Benny kind of twisted, said, "I'm hurt, I'm hurt," and then he went down. And we didn't see anything. Nobody ever approached us. Nobody tried to rob us or anything. We never really saw anything.

ZAHN: So you never saw the alleged shooters and you never saw a car trying to flee the parking lot?

ZELKOVITZ: No. We never saw anything. When Benny went down, I bent over him, knelt over him and I saw the gunshot and then just kind of started yelling for 911.

ZAHN: And, Benny, you were a very lucky man that your injuries, I guess, weren't worse than that. Now at what point did investigators come to you and tell you there could be a link between your shooting and the sniper spree?

OBEROI: Well, they did, they like, it was like 18, 19 days they called us back. And they were like we don't know what's going on. We called them right away when the October 3 shooting started. It looks just like our shooting happened on September 14. So just a few days later, a few days later they told us it's connected to the sniper shootings.

ZAHN: And, Benny, what made you think that the two could have been linked? What were some of the similarities that you could remember?

OBEROI: OK, it's right, our store is right like 40 seconds away from a highway exit and the other thing is nobody saw anything what happened that night. There were a lot of people in the parking lot and no robbery attempt, no motive, nothing like that.

ZAHN: If, in fact, Arnie, it's established that the snipers were responsible for shooting Benny, does that give you any sense of relief...

OBEROI: Oh, yes.

ZAHN: ... that the person or persons responsible for this are the right ones?

OBEROI: A lot of relief.

ZELKOVITZ: Yes, well, Friday they did determine that it was the sniper.

ZAHN: Right.

ZELKOVITZ: And that, yes. There's a certain sense of relief. Actually, for me there was relief October 2 when there was the shooting at the shopper's food warehouse, because before that we had absolutely no idea why anybody would have taken a shot. Now there's, in a way there's some satisfaction, because it took us from the time of the shooting on the second until last Friday for them to determine and -- that it actually was. And it was something that we knew all along.

ZAHN: You know, it's interesting, we've talked with so many folks victimized by the alleged sniper and I'm just wondering if you feel, Arnie, any of the survivor's guilt that some folks have told us who witnessed these shootings have?

ZELKOVITZ: Yes, I think so. At the time of the shooting, I felt very guilty. Yes. I think maybe I'd feel a bit more guilty if Benny wasn't doing so well. You know, we thank god every day that he's doing well. And, you know, there's certainly a sense of relief that it wasn't me and that Benny's going to be fine.

I'm not really sure how the whole thing has hit me yet. I'm not sure that if at some point in time down the future I'm not going to look at this a little bit differently than I do now.

ZAHN: Well, we would certainly understand that.

Benny, I saw you wanted to say one final thing there.

OBEROI: I'm happy I'm OK, you know? That's all. I'm very lucky, I feel. I feel very lucky.

ZAHN: Well, we will root for you from here.

Benny Oberoi and Arnie Zelkovitz, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning.

We appreciate it.

OBEROI: Thank you.

ZELKOVITZ: Thank you.

ZAHN: Good luck.

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





Linked to Sniper Suspects>