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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Don Clark
Aired October 13, 2002 - 09:01 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.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Less than a half hour from now, police in Montgomery County, Maryland, are due to hold a news conference on their sniper investigation. CNN's Bill Hemmer is in Montgomery County, the hub of the investigation. He joins us now with the latest. Good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renay, good morning. A couple of things to pick up on here. It may come out in this briefing again in 30 minutes, or it may not, it's quite unclear right now -- but the indication we've been given about these two vehicles we talked about. One is the Chevrolet Astro van, and the other is this composite that was released last night.
Let's talk about the Astro first of all. We've been given indications from the authorities here in Rockville that, indeed, there could be a photo released today that will give people in the area better indication of this the van looks like. Again, we're waiting for that.
The other thing that's a strong possibility today, if we go back to last night's briefing, right around 5:00, that's when we were given that composite. Again, it's a photograph of a truck taken from two different angles, but investigators tell us that they came up with this composite based on a number of eyewitnesses in and around the Montgomery County area. Rather interesting characteristics on this truck, too.
They describe lettering on the side of this truck, but the witnesses who saw it can't say what the lettering said. Also, there is no tag number given as of yet.
But interestingly, on the back right of this truck, there is a bumper that has some sort of damage to it, some sort of indentation. The word we're getting, Renay, that a larger photo, especially of the back side, may be released later today to give people in the area a better indication of what kind of damage was given there. Again, 30 minutes away, we may hear more then. We'll stand by and wait at this point, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: OK, so we may get even more details about these vehicles that may be used in this.
HEMMER: Quite possible.
SAN MIGUEL: Also, though, I mean, this question gets asked a lot in situations like this, in big stories like this, but I guess I have to ask you about the mood in and around Washington right now and where you're at in Montgomery County.
HEMMER: I don't think there's any surprise here that the jitters are up. There's an awful lot of anxiety throughout the community here in Montgomery County and the neighboring counties as well.
I'll give you a really good indication of where we saw that. Last night around midnight local time, just south of Washington D.C., a woman was killed. She had severe trauma to the upper part of her body. At the outset, the reaction was intense by law enforcement agencies. As they've said, they put their plans in place now. They shut down the road for about a half an hour, part of the freeway was blocked off, and it wasn't until they decided and could discern there was no connection with serial snipers that those roads were opened yet again.
But that's the kind of reaction and response that we're getting and seeing throughout the entire Washington, D.C., area, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Bill Hemmer reporting from Montgomery County. And we'll have that press conference, news conference as soon as it gets under way. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: OK. Sure.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's turn once again to Don Clark, a former FBI investigator who has been answering our questions this morning. Good to see you again, Don. Do we have Don? All right. Sounds like we don't have him right now.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Am I here?
LIN: We do. Don, all right, thanks so much for coming back. We've got an e-mail question here from Bill of North Carolina. We're going to probably put it up on the screen, but I'm going to paraphrase here. He says that the sniper seems to only shoot on Mondays through Fridays. "Has anyone asked the question of maybe he's a family man? I ask because maybe his wife and kids possibly are at work or at school, and he does this while they're away."
CLARK: Well, certainly, it's a valid question, and I'm certain, Carol, from working these cases before that you try to look at every conceivable avenue that you can. It's likely that the person could be -- doesn't have to be a single loner that's looking for a lot of glorification. It could be a person that's living duel lives within himself or herself, for that matter, that they're doing this and certainly with no knowledge by the family that it's going on, because -- and again, in many of these cases when you find family situations, if it's that heinous a crime, sometimes even a family member will come forward.
LIN: Well, let's hope so in this case. But also, some profilers have been saying from a psychological standpoint, if this person is, say, a manic depressive that they might go through manic periods where they're up 24 hours a day, committing these crimes, and then there's this extreme down time. Could that explain why it is that we haven't seen any shootings on the weekends? CLARK: It's certainly a possible explanation. We also have to bear in mind that while I have great confidence in profilers and their methods and techniques, their information comes in large part from historical perspectives, of things that have been studied and really looked at to see how we can probably gauge to how the next person will act. So while those are possibilities, and I'm sure it's another theory that the law enforcement community will look at and take under consideration when they are figuring out their strategy for it, but again, we've got to keep an open mind continuously on that avenue as well as many other different types of possibilities.
LIN: Right. We're also hearing from Richard of Rockville, Maryland, boy, in the heart of the action there. Richard basically writes that he has sort of come up with his own profile of this sniper since the spree began. Figuring that it's probably a white male between the ages of 20 and 40, with maybe recent marriage or job or money problems. But he does ask, "do you think a lack of a detailed profile is due to the current climate of political correctness, and that's why there has been no specific profile disclosed to the public?"
CLARK: Well, I don't know that political correctness will play a necessarily role in the profilers being able to come up with what they think this person might look like. But I don't think it would be professional accuracy for the profilers to put out information that what race or sex that they absolutely think this person to be, because, again, these profiles are developed historically, and historically, a particular crime may have been committed by a particular ethnic race or a particular type of person, but that doesn't mean that this one is committed by that.
So I would certainly not be in favor of putting a plaster out there that this person is this or that. But yes, statistically, it may have indicated that it's a white male or that it's any other type of person.
LIN: Think about some of the extraordinary things that we do know. I mean, on Friday, the law enforcement officials after the last shooting managed to shut down the interstate system throughout that entire area around Fredericksburg within seven minutes, and yet this sniper managed to elude that dragnet. Is it possible that this sniper has some sort of ability to blend into the investigation? We had a viewer actually e-mail me who said, "is it possible that it's someone within law enforcement, that they can actually blend into the investigation?"
CLARK: Well, possible, yes. But, you know, Carol, I think your assessment is accurate in that that ability to shut it down so quickly, how could a person escape that net, if you will? And I think what we've talked about before is that you're talking about a person that, without a doubt, has a great handle on the geography of this area. They know escape routes. They know how to come and go, and they perhaps know where to go. It is all likelihood that the person could have been observing some of this activity that's going on, but this person definitely knows the area.
LIN: So you don't think it's a member of law enforcement?
CLARK: I certainly would hope not. I would hope that it's not a member of law enforcement. And truthfully, no, I don't think it's a member of law enforcement. Could it be? Of course, it could be anybody right now, because we just don't know. But I wouldn't wager in that direction.
LIN: I mean, we don't want to go in that direction, but you did say consider all possibilities. It's been very quiet over the weekend. Tomorrow, rush hour once again. When you take a look at the profile of the targets and how the sniper has been making his or her decisions, is this sniper likely to up the ante in terms of the next target in some way?
CLARK: You know, you bet, Carol, they're going to increase their activity, because just like we're able to sit here from the outside and we don't have near the information that they have, and they've clearly analyzed it and look that nothing has happened on weekends but it's happened during the week. So just logic dictates that, clearly, they're going to up the ante in terms of their resources out there on those days that certainly targets have been hit.
But I would assure you this: That today, as with yesterday, that I'm sure they had sizable amount of resources out doing the same thing, because they are hoping to try to prevent another surprise attack from taking place.
LIN: Needle in a haystack. All right, thank you very much, Don Clark, former FBI investigator. You've really added to our insight on this story this morning. Thank you.
CLARK: Thank you, Carol.
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 13, 2002 - 09:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Less than a half hour from now, police in Montgomery County, Maryland, are due to hold a news conference on their sniper investigation. CNN's Bill Hemmer is in Montgomery County, the hub of the investigation. He joins us now with the latest. Good morning, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renay, good morning. A couple of things to pick up on here. It may come out in this briefing again in 30 minutes, or it may not, it's quite unclear right now -- but the indication we've been given about these two vehicles we talked about. One is the Chevrolet Astro van, and the other is this composite that was released last night.
Let's talk about the Astro first of all. We've been given indications from the authorities here in Rockville that, indeed, there could be a photo released today that will give people in the area better indication of this the van looks like. Again, we're waiting for that.
The other thing that's a strong possibility today, if we go back to last night's briefing, right around 5:00, that's when we were given that composite. Again, it's a photograph of a truck taken from two different angles, but investigators tell us that they came up with this composite based on a number of eyewitnesses in and around the Montgomery County area. Rather interesting characteristics on this truck, too.
They describe lettering on the side of this truck, but the witnesses who saw it can't say what the lettering said. Also, there is no tag number given as of yet.
But interestingly, on the back right of this truck, there is a bumper that has some sort of damage to it, some sort of indentation. The word we're getting, Renay, that a larger photo, especially of the back side, may be released later today to give people in the area a better indication of what kind of damage was given there. Again, 30 minutes away, we may hear more then. We'll stand by and wait at this point, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: OK, so we may get even more details about these vehicles that may be used in this.
HEMMER: Quite possible.
SAN MIGUEL: Also, though, I mean, this question gets asked a lot in situations like this, in big stories like this, but I guess I have to ask you about the mood in and around Washington right now and where you're at in Montgomery County.
HEMMER: I don't think there's any surprise here that the jitters are up. There's an awful lot of anxiety throughout the community here in Montgomery County and the neighboring counties as well.
I'll give you a really good indication of where we saw that. Last night around midnight local time, just south of Washington D.C., a woman was killed. She had severe trauma to the upper part of her body. At the outset, the reaction was intense by law enforcement agencies. As they've said, they put their plans in place now. They shut down the road for about a half an hour, part of the freeway was blocked off, and it wasn't until they decided and could discern there was no connection with serial snipers that those roads were opened yet again.
But that's the kind of reaction and response that we're getting and seeing throughout the entire Washington, D.C., area, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Bill Hemmer reporting from Montgomery County. And we'll have that press conference, news conference as soon as it gets under way. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: OK. Sure.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's turn once again to Don Clark, a former FBI investigator who has been answering our questions this morning. Good to see you again, Don. Do we have Don? All right. Sounds like we don't have him right now.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Am I here?
LIN: We do. Don, all right, thanks so much for coming back. We've got an e-mail question here from Bill of North Carolina. We're going to probably put it up on the screen, but I'm going to paraphrase here. He says that the sniper seems to only shoot on Mondays through Fridays. "Has anyone asked the question of maybe he's a family man? I ask because maybe his wife and kids possibly are at work or at school, and he does this while they're away."
CLARK: Well, certainly, it's a valid question, and I'm certain, Carol, from working these cases before that you try to look at every conceivable avenue that you can. It's likely that the person could be -- doesn't have to be a single loner that's looking for a lot of glorification. It could be a person that's living duel lives within himself or herself, for that matter, that they're doing this and certainly with no knowledge by the family that it's going on, because -- and again, in many of these cases when you find family situations, if it's that heinous a crime, sometimes even a family member will come forward.
LIN: Well, let's hope so in this case. But also, some profilers have been saying from a psychological standpoint, if this person is, say, a manic depressive that they might go through manic periods where they're up 24 hours a day, committing these crimes, and then there's this extreme down time. Could that explain why it is that we haven't seen any shootings on the weekends? CLARK: It's certainly a possible explanation. We also have to bear in mind that while I have great confidence in profilers and their methods and techniques, their information comes in large part from historical perspectives, of things that have been studied and really looked at to see how we can probably gauge to how the next person will act. So while those are possibilities, and I'm sure it's another theory that the law enforcement community will look at and take under consideration when they are figuring out their strategy for it, but again, we've got to keep an open mind continuously on that avenue as well as many other different types of possibilities.
LIN: Right. We're also hearing from Richard of Rockville, Maryland, boy, in the heart of the action there. Richard basically writes that he has sort of come up with his own profile of this sniper since the spree began. Figuring that it's probably a white male between the ages of 20 and 40, with maybe recent marriage or job or money problems. But he does ask, "do you think a lack of a detailed profile is due to the current climate of political correctness, and that's why there has been no specific profile disclosed to the public?"
CLARK: Well, I don't know that political correctness will play a necessarily role in the profilers being able to come up with what they think this person might look like. But I don't think it would be professional accuracy for the profilers to put out information that what race or sex that they absolutely think this person to be, because, again, these profiles are developed historically, and historically, a particular crime may have been committed by a particular ethnic race or a particular type of person, but that doesn't mean that this one is committed by that.
So I would certainly not be in favor of putting a plaster out there that this person is this or that. But yes, statistically, it may have indicated that it's a white male or that it's any other type of person.
LIN: Think about some of the extraordinary things that we do know. I mean, on Friday, the law enforcement officials after the last shooting managed to shut down the interstate system throughout that entire area around Fredericksburg within seven minutes, and yet this sniper managed to elude that dragnet. Is it possible that this sniper has some sort of ability to blend into the investigation? We had a viewer actually e-mail me who said, "is it possible that it's someone within law enforcement, that they can actually blend into the investigation?"
CLARK: Well, possible, yes. But, you know, Carol, I think your assessment is accurate in that that ability to shut it down so quickly, how could a person escape that net, if you will? And I think what we've talked about before is that you're talking about a person that, without a doubt, has a great handle on the geography of this area. They know escape routes. They know how to come and go, and they perhaps know where to go. It is all likelihood that the person could have been observing some of this activity that's going on, but this person definitely knows the area.
LIN: So you don't think it's a member of law enforcement?
CLARK: I certainly would hope not. I would hope that it's not a member of law enforcement. And truthfully, no, I don't think it's a member of law enforcement. Could it be? Of course, it could be anybody right now, because we just don't know. But I wouldn't wager in that direction.
LIN: I mean, we don't want to go in that direction, but you did say consider all possibilities. It's been very quiet over the weekend. Tomorrow, rush hour once again. When you take a look at the profile of the targets and how the sniper has been making his or her decisions, is this sniper likely to up the ante in terms of the next target in some way?
CLARK: You know, you bet, Carol, they're going to increase their activity, because just like we're able to sit here from the outside and we don't have near the information that they have, and they've clearly analyzed it and look that nothing has happened on weekends but it's happened during the week. So just logic dictates that, clearly, they're going to up the ante in terms of their resources out there on those days that certainly targets have been hit.
But I would assure you this: That today, as with yesterday, that I'm sure they had sizable amount of resources out doing the same thing, because they are hoping to try to prevent another surprise attack from taking place.
LIN: Needle in a haystack. All right, thank you very much, Don Clark, former FBI investigator. You've really added to our insight on this story this morning. Thank you.
CLARK: Thank you, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
