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CNN Saturday Morning News
Police Expected to Link Latest Virginia Shooting to Sniper
Aired October 12, 2002 - 08:01 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, in the Washington area, residents are waking up to another day of what can only be described as raw fear. The serial sniper is still at large and the toll appears to be climbing.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: For in depth coverage now of the latest shooting and the manhunt for the sniper there, we're going to begin with CNN's Daryn Kagan.
She joins us now live from Montgomery County, Maryland -- Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, once again, Thomas and Carol.
We're standing by, about an hour and a half from right now we expect a briefing to take place. In fact, it's going to happen just right over my right shoulder there. That's where we expect to see Police Chief Moose, also Doug Duncan, the executive of the county here, come out and give us the latest information.
The big question today, was yesterday's shooting related to the other sniper shootings that has just gripped fear in this area for over a week now? The "Washington Post" saying yes, indeed, that ballistics tests already show that that has been proven.
If you were with me about a half hour ago, you know I had a chance to talk with Doug Duncan, who is basically like the mayor of the county here. And he wouldn't go so far as to say that ballistics tests have linked yesterday's shooting to the other shootings, but he does say if you add it up, it becomes quite obvious.
Let's listen in a little bit to that interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: There were enough, similarities, though, in the shooting yesterday, I mean it's very similar to other things that we've seen, that I think the news would be that it was not linked. You know what I mean? That's sort of a terrible thing to say, but everybody's fear is that's what's going to happen and we'll get the information later today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And once again that news conference set to start about an hour and a half from right now. We're looking forward to that. Also looking forward to a half hour after that in Spotsylvania County, another news conference, and that is the county where yesterday's shooting took place. And a man from Philadelphia, Ken Bridges, lost his life simply filling up his gas tank.
Our Charles Molineaux is standing by at the site where that news conference will take place in Spotsylvania County -- Charles, good morning.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Daryn.
We are standing by outside the Spotsylvania County offices. Yes, we're expecting about 10 o'clock Eastern time, so about two hours from now, to get and update on the latest information that investigators have. That may also include new information about those ballistics tests.
This is one very frightened community. Keep in mind that it now looks like the Massaponax area of Spotsylvania County is the only area outside of where, the area where the sniper originally hit that the sniper has now returned to. Of course, we had a shooting here last week, where a woman was shot outside of a mall and wounded. She has now recovered and she is now out of the hospital.
Of course, it was a different story yesterday. Yesterday's victim was killed. Kenneth Bridges was 53 years old. He had six kids and he helped start an organization to help black businesses. He was on a trip and he was going home, back to Philadelphia. He was getting some gas when he was shot at that Exxon station.
Police responded very fast. Roadblocks in the area were set up in a matter of minutes. FBI geographic profilers arrived on the scene immediately. A big part of that quick response is the fact that investigators have been looking at Spotsylvania County since the sniper struck here a week ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF HOWARD SMITH, SPOTSYLVANIA SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We had a Virginia state trooper, a uniformed trooper who was across the street from this shooting, working a traffic accident. He heard the shots. He ran directly across the street and rendered aid to the victim until the rescue squad arrived. Once at the hospital, the victim was pronounced dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Now, one thing that investigators here in Spotsylvania County say is that it is inconceivable that the sniper did not see that uniformed state trooper on the scene, right across the street from where the shooting happened. That shows, they say, that this is a very violent and bold individual who is involved in these shootings.
Now, the response was extremely quick yesterday. Investigators swept in, but the head of Virginia State Police say apparently not quickly enough -- Daryn. KAGAN: Very sad. We will be looking for more information, as we said, Charles, 10:00 a.m. Eastern. And we'll be going to you to help us cover that news conference.
Thank you very much.
Well, as we follow this story, as we, as these shootings unfold, a big question in the Washington, D.C. area is who is doing this? But in all that it's important not to forget the victims, the people who lost their lives in an instant. One man who that happened to, Dean Myers. Wednesday night he was coming home from work, stopped at a gas station, filled up and just as he paid for his gas, he was shot and he died.
His brother, Bob Myers, sat down with us to remember his brother.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MYERS, BROTHER OF SNIPER VICTIM: As a person, he was a very giving, caring, very humble peace loving kind of guy. His interests were very varied. He loved people and because he was always a single man and had a good job and lived frugally on his own, he had the time and the resources to be able to invest in other people. So family was very important to him and many friends that he had invested his life in. And particularly the children. He was Uncle Dean to everyone. He would be the one with the big gifts at Christmas time. He was the one that would bring the fireworks to the July 4th gathering at the house, or my parents' house. We would have picnics on most of the summer holidays and he would be involved in organizing that. He was just a real giving, active, kind individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And that was Bob Myers remembering his brother Dean Myers, who lost his life on Wednesday night in the sniper shooting attack.
Once again, we want to remind you, standing by for the news conference, set to start about an hour and 20 minutes from now right here in Montgomery County. We'll bring that to you live. Also, much more at the bottom of the hour.
Carol and Thomas, we're going to talk more at the bottom of the hour about the anxiety around here, the events that have been canceled. But there's also some significant events that have not been canceled. We'll tell you more about that in about 20 minutes -- back to you.
ROBERTS: Daryn, I wanted to ask you real quickly, I know you shot out of here real quickly to get up there for this morning's coverage. How are people there treating you, as a member of the media, and also are they making comments to you about coverage and how closely they're watching? KAGAN: You know, I've got to say, Thomas, just to be honest, and that's what we try to do here on CNN, I got in late last night, got to the hotel, that alarm clock went off about 3:12 this morning and I came right out here in the dark right to this media encampment. And I don't know if we can pan out a little bit, but if you can get a feel of where we are, this is a pretty enclosed, tight quarters of just about everyone who's covering the story from here in Montgomery County. We're right by the county headquarters, the building.
So for right now I have not had a chance to get out and talk to the people. But I know for my folks at home who are a little worried about my coming up here to cover the story, I think they'll see that we're in a pretty safe environment right here in this media encampment. So hopefully I'll get out a little bit later and get a chance to talk to the folks.
ROBERTS: All right, Daryn.
Our Daryn Kagan live for us this morning in Montgomery County.
Good to see you and we'll be talking again soon.
KAGAN: Sure.
ROBERTS: Now, if you have questions about the serial sniper, we want you to e-mail us. Coming up in our next hour, Daryn Kagan again, and Mike Brooks, will be answering your questions coming up in our reporter's notebook.
Also tonight, CNN brings you two special reports. Make sure to tune in for those, in depth coverage of the sniper on the loose. Coming up tonight at eight o'clock as well as ten o'clock Eastern time.
LIN: All right, investigators are sifting through -- which camera would you like me on, folks -- sifting through hundreds and hundreds of leads, hoping for a nugget of information that is going to help them at least find a lead somewhere in this Washington area, wherever the sniper may be.
So we're going to take a look at this, again, with our law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks, about the investigation. So many sources that you have up there from your work experience.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Correct.
LIN: What is the latest that your sources are telling you in terms of the ballistics analysis from yesterday's shooting? Is there any doubt it's connected to the sniper?
BROOKS: I talked to them yesterday. They didn't seem to have any doubt at all, from the circumstantial evidence that they had and from everything else, looking at the crime scene, the folks that are out there from the local crime scene to the FBI's average response team, they believe that it's, that it is linked. And we've heard from the "Post" today that it is, but we haven't heard officially from the law enforcement, Montgomery County or from Spotsylvania County or the ATF that it is linked for sure. But everything seems to say that it was linked to the other shootings.
LIN: Clearly with 10 shootings now, perhaps, as many as 10 shootings...
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: ... the pattern, all along the interstate near gas stations...
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: Near motels and hotels, this pattern that's beginning to develop, is it something that can lead investigators to, say, people who've stayed at those hotels, people who regularly travel that route?
BROOKS: Well, after a shooting anywhere, whether it be this or in any other crimes, investigators will pan out. And they will go do a thorough investigation, going around, they'll do a canvass of all the hotels. They'll probably, I know they've already gotten the lists of everyone who stayed in hotels right around where the shooting occurred last night. They've probably checked all the hotels up and down Route 95, Route 1, anything within that area. They have -- they most likely have already gone and pulled the files and checked to see who stayed there, to see if there's any similarities. There's also video cameras along 95 that they can maybe take a look at and see if they can get any images.
In the "Washington Post," in their report this morning it said that an FBI agent on one of the people they interviewed, that the "Post" interviewed, said an FBI agent showed them a blurry picture of someone who was similar to the person they stopped in appearance, and said that's the reason they wanted to talk to him.
So it's unknown, but it seems from the "Post" article that there may have been some video images of a possible person who was involved in this.
LIN: I'm sure they're checking absolutely every resource, more than 2,000 credible tips now coming from some -- more than 13,000 tips coming into the hot line now.
BROOKS: Right, it's important that if anyone sees anything, hears anything, anything that they sense is out of place that could be anything at all remotely involved in this to call the tip hotline. I think the number is 888-324-9800. And that comes into the Washington field office of the FBI. There's FBI agents there taking all of these tips and then if any of the credible leads that they have, that they believe could be investigated as part of this investigation, they're farming the leads out to the investigators that are out on the streets, even anywhere across the country.
They're also going back looking at past incidents like this in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, as well as anywhere else in the country, to see if there's any other unsolved crimes.
Now, I found it interesting, you know, a Michael's craft store. Everyone kind of focused on that in the beginning.
LIN: Right, two shootings at separate Michael's craft stores.
BROOKS: Right. And then the shooting at the middle school, there's a Michael's crafts store just a short distance from there that was involved in an arson fire about a year ago that's still unsolved. You know, there's all -- there's many, many leads that they're looking at.
LIN: Right.
BROOKS: Someone says is it someone who has a beef with the oil companies? They're looking at all these different angles, because there's so many different angles to look at from this particular...
LIN: But you know what's scary? You know what's really scary, Mike? Is it seems like the shooter is ratcheting up in terms of the kind of target he's going after. For example, last Sunday night you and I were talking about how investigators were worried about rush hour.
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: And we were talking about kids going back to school and bam, Monday a child is shot.
BROOKS: Exactly. Right.
LIN: Yesterday the shooting that took place, took place right across from where a state trooper was handling a traffic accident.
BROOKS: Less than 50 yards from where he was.
LIN: So what does that tell you about...
BROOKS: Totally brazen. The guy doesn't care. Sometimes you say well, do these people want to get caught? I don't think this guy wants to get caught, you know, or this guy or woman, whoever it may be, or someone working together. Just totally brazen. Does not care and is doing this, I think, as a control, I am in control.
LIN: But what does it tell you about his next target, though?
BROOKS: I wish I knew.
LIN: A cop?
BROOKS: Well, you know...
LIN: A teacher?
BROOKS: It could be. It could be any of these. If it was a cop, if he had a beef against law enforcement, he probably could have picked that trooper yesterday. You know, and then, again, they say this thing, well, is this person just riding in, sitting there, just pure speculation, most, it's pure speculation that he's, that he or she is going out sitting, watching for their targets. Sitting there trying to blend in and then watch for their target. It's, you know, and a white van, a brown pickup truck. Who knows what vehicle it is?
LIN: What's the danger of focusing so much -- we keep hearing about a white van or a white box van. But we don't know for sure...
BROOKS: No, no, we don't.
LIN: ... that the shooter was firing from a white van.
BROOKS: Right. We don't. Thomas and I talked about this a little bit in the last hour, that sometimes when it, most of the time when you have a witness to a shooting, it's right, it's very close, and people will see someone jump into a car, run away. It's so much distance now from the victim to the shooter and where the shooting took place, they hear a shot, they look around, they're in a commercial area, as months of the incidents have been. They look around, they see cars coming and going. I think people are focusing on white vehicles, white vans in particular, because early in the investigation they said it was a white box van.
Early in the investigation, in one of the other shootings they had given a lookout over the police radio. There was a number of vehicles that they had listed, that they had put a lookout for.
LIN: Right, several witnesses had identified seeing white vans in the vicinity of the last two shootings.
BROOKS: Exactly. Right. And I think yesterday there was a male and a female in one of the white vans. There was another minivan that they saw, they stopped and that didn't pan out. But, you know, people have to just open their minds. If they see something that happened, look around for any kind of vehicle driving erratically, trying to get away from a scene, going the opposite way.
LIN: Somebody...
BROOKS: Somebody will see something.
LIN: Somebody, but somebody knows who this person is right now. Somebody has to realize that there's suspicious behavior, people aren't showing up at work, someone is acting brazenly, someone who has the ability to shoot these weapons or has these weapons at home.
BROOKS: Right. And the other thing I find odd, they call this person a sniper. Most of the people I know who are involved in guns and like to shoot, they use more than one weapon. We've only seen one weapon used, apparently, so far in this particular case.
LIN: But it's become his signature.
BROOKS: It has.
LIN: He wants law enforcement to know that he's been there.
BROOKS: Exactly.
LIN: All right...
BROOKS: So, that's unusual also.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Mike. Hopefully we'll hear more developments at 9:30 and 10:00 today, at the two news conferences.
BROOKS: Right. All right, Carol.
LIN: Thank you very much.
BROOKS: Thank you.
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 12, 2002 - 08:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, in the Washington area, residents are waking up to another day of what can only be described as raw fear. The serial sniper is still at large and the toll appears to be climbing.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: For in depth coverage now of the latest shooting and the manhunt for the sniper there, we're going to begin with CNN's Daryn Kagan.
She joins us now live from Montgomery County, Maryland -- Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, once again, Thomas and Carol.
We're standing by, about an hour and a half from right now we expect a briefing to take place. In fact, it's going to happen just right over my right shoulder there. That's where we expect to see Police Chief Moose, also Doug Duncan, the executive of the county here, come out and give us the latest information.
The big question today, was yesterday's shooting related to the other sniper shootings that has just gripped fear in this area for over a week now? The "Washington Post" saying yes, indeed, that ballistics tests already show that that has been proven.
If you were with me about a half hour ago, you know I had a chance to talk with Doug Duncan, who is basically like the mayor of the county here. And he wouldn't go so far as to say that ballistics tests have linked yesterday's shooting to the other shootings, but he does say if you add it up, it becomes quite obvious.
Let's listen in a little bit to that interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: There were enough, similarities, though, in the shooting yesterday, I mean it's very similar to other things that we've seen, that I think the news would be that it was not linked. You know what I mean? That's sort of a terrible thing to say, but everybody's fear is that's what's going to happen and we'll get the information later today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And once again that news conference set to start about an hour and a half from right now. We're looking forward to that. Also looking forward to a half hour after that in Spotsylvania County, another news conference, and that is the county where yesterday's shooting took place. And a man from Philadelphia, Ken Bridges, lost his life simply filling up his gas tank.
Our Charles Molineaux is standing by at the site where that news conference will take place in Spotsylvania County -- Charles, good morning.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Daryn.
We are standing by outside the Spotsylvania County offices. Yes, we're expecting about 10 o'clock Eastern time, so about two hours from now, to get and update on the latest information that investigators have. That may also include new information about those ballistics tests.
This is one very frightened community. Keep in mind that it now looks like the Massaponax area of Spotsylvania County is the only area outside of where, the area where the sniper originally hit that the sniper has now returned to. Of course, we had a shooting here last week, where a woman was shot outside of a mall and wounded. She has now recovered and she is now out of the hospital.
Of course, it was a different story yesterday. Yesterday's victim was killed. Kenneth Bridges was 53 years old. He had six kids and he helped start an organization to help black businesses. He was on a trip and he was going home, back to Philadelphia. He was getting some gas when he was shot at that Exxon station.
Police responded very fast. Roadblocks in the area were set up in a matter of minutes. FBI geographic profilers arrived on the scene immediately. A big part of that quick response is the fact that investigators have been looking at Spotsylvania County since the sniper struck here a week ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF HOWARD SMITH, SPOTSYLVANIA SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We had a Virginia state trooper, a uniformed trooper who was across the street from this shooting, working a traffic accident. He heard the shots. He ran directly across the street and rendered aid to the victim until the rescue squad arrived. Once at the hospital, the victim was pronounced dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLINEAUX: Now, one thing that investigators here in Spotsylvania County say is that it is inconceivable that the sniper did not see that uniformed state trooper on the scene, right across the street from where the shooting happened. That shows, they say, that this is a very violent and bold individual who is involved in these shootings.
Now, the response was extremely quick yesterday. Investigators swept in, but the head of Virginia State Police say apparently not quickly enough -- Daryn. KAGAN: Very sad. We will be looking for more information, as we said, Charles, 10:00 a.m. Eastern. And we'll be going to you to help us cover that news conference.
Thank you very much.
Well, as we follow this story, as we, as these shootings unfold, a big question in the Washington, D.C. area is who is doing this? But in all that it's important not to forget the victims, the people who lost their lives in an instant. One man who that happened to, Dean Myers. Wednesday night he was coming home from work, stopped at a gas station, filled up and just as he paid for his gas, he was shot and he died.
His brother, Bob Myers, sat down with us to remember his brother.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MYERS, BROTHER OF SNIPER VICTIM: As a person, he was a very giving, caring, very humble peace loving kind of guy. His interests were very varied. He loved people and because he was always a single man and had a good job and lived frugally on his own, he had the time and the resources to be able to invest in other people. So family was very important to him and many friends that he had invested his life in. And particularly the children. He was Uncle Dean to everyone. He would be the one with the big gifts at Christmas time. He was the one that would bring the fireworks to the July 4th gathering at the house, or my parents' house. We would have picnics on most of the summer holidays and he would be involved in organizing that. He was just a real giving, active, kind individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And that was Bob Myers remembering his brother Dean Myers, who lost his life on Wednesday night in the sniper shooting attack.
Once again, we want to remind you, standing by for the news conference, set to start about an hour and 20 minutes from now right here in Montgomery County. We'll bring that to you live. Also, much more at the bottom of the hour.
Carol and Thomas, we're going to talk more at the bottom of the hour about the anxiety around here, the events that have been canceled. But there's also some significant events that have not been canceled. We'll tell you more about that in about 20 minutes -- back to you.
ROBERTS: Daryn, I wanted to ask you real quickly, I know you shot out of here real quickly to get up there for this morning's coverage. How are people there treating you, as a member of the media, and also are they making comments to you about coverage and how closely they're watching? KAGAN: You know, I've got to say, Thomas, just to be honest, and that's what we try to do here on CNN, I got in late last night, got to the hotel, that alarm clock went off about 3:12 this morning and I came right out here in the dark right to this media encampment. And I don't know if we can pan out a little bit, but if you can get a feel of where we are, this is a pretty enclosed, tight quarters of just about everyone who's covering the story from here in Montgomery County. We're right by the county headquarters, the building.
So for right now I have not had a chance to get out and talk to the people. But I know for my folks at home who are a little worried about my coming up here to cover the story, I think they'll see that we're in a pretty safe environment right here in this media encampment. So hopefully I'll get out a little bit later and get a chance to talk to the folks.
ROBERTS: All right, Daryn.
Our Daryn Kagan live for us this morning in Montgomery County.
Good to see you and we'll be talking again soon.
KAGAN: Sure.
ROBERTS: Now, if you have questions about the serial sniper, we want you to e-mail us. Coming up in our next hour, Daryn Kagan again, and Mike Brooks, will be answering your questions coming up in our reporter's notebook.
Also tonight, CNN brings you two special reports. Make sure to tune in for those, in depth coverage of the sniper on the loose. Coming up tonight at eight o'clock as well as ten o'clock Eastern time.
LIN: All right, investigators are sifting through -- which camera would you like me on, folks -- sifting through hundreds and hundreds of leads, hoping for a nugget of information that is going to help them at least find a lead somewhere in this Washington area, wherever the sniper may be.
So we're going to take a look at this, again, with our law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks, about the investigation. So many sources that you have up there from your work experience.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Correct.
LIN: What is the latest that your sources are telling you in terms of the ballistics analysis from yesterday's shooting? Is there any doubt it's connected to the sniper?
BROOKS: I talked to them yesterday. They didn't seem to have any doubt at all, from the circumstantial evidence that they had and from everything else, looking at the crime scene, the folks that are out there from the local crime scene to the FBI's average response team, they believe that it's, that it is linked. And we've heard from the "Post" today that it is, but we haven't heard officially from the law enforcement, Montgomery County or from Spotsylvania County or the ATF that it is linked for sure. But everything seems to say that it was linked to the other shootings.
LIN: Clearly with 10 shootings now, perhaps, as many as 10 shootings...
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: ... the pattern, all along the interstate near gas stations...
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: Near motels and hotels, this pattern that's beginning to develop, is it something that can lead investigators to, say, people who've stayed at those hotels, people who regularly travel that route?
BROOKS: Well, after a shooting anywhere, whether it be this or in any other crimes, investigators will pan out. And they will go do a thorough investigation, going around, they'll do a canvass of all the hotels. They'll probably, I know they've already gotten the lists of everyone who stayed in hotels right around where the shooting occurred last night. They've probably checked all the hotels up and down Route 95, Route 1, anything within that area. They have -- they most likely have already gone and pulled the files and checked to see who stayed there, to see if there's any similarities. There's also video cameras along 95 that they can maybe take a look at and see if they can get any images.
In the "Washington Post," in their report this morning it said that an FBI agent on one of the people they interviewed, that the "Post" interviewed, said an FBI agent showed them a blurry picture of someone who was similar to the person they stopped in appearance, and said that's the reason they wanted to talk to him.
So it's unknown, but it seems from the "Post" article that there may have been some video images of a possible person who was involved in this.
LIN: I'm sure they're checking absolutely every resource, more than 2,000 credible tips now coming from some -- more than 13,000 tips coming into the hot line now.
BROOKS: Right, it's important that if anyone sees anything, hears anything, anything that they sense is out of place that could be anything at all remotely involved in this to call the tip hotline. I think the number is 888-324-9800. And that comes into the Washington field office of the FBI. There's FBI agents there taking all of these tips and then if any of the credible leads that they have, that they believe could be investigated as part of this investigation, they're farming the leads out to the investigators that are out on the streets, even anywhere across the country.
They're also going back looking at past incidents like this in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, as well as anywhere else in the country, to see if there's any other unsolved crimes.
Now, I found it interesting, you know, a Michael's craft store. Everyone kind of focused on that in the beginning.
LIN: Right, two shootings at separate Michael's craft stores.
BROOKS: Right. And then the shooting at the middle school, there's a Michael's crafts store just a short distance from there that was involved in an arson fire about a year ago that's still unsolved. You know, there's all -- there's many, many leads that they're looking at.
LIN: Right.
BROOKS: Someone says is it someone who has a beef with the oil companies? They're looking at all these different angles, because there's so many different angles to look at from this particular...
LIN: But you know what's scary? You know what's really scary, Mike? Is it seems like the shooter is ratcheting up in terms of the kind of target he's going after. For example, last Sunday night you and I were talking about how investigators were worried about rush hour.
BROOKS: Right.
LIN: And we were talking about kids going back to school and bam, Monday a child is shot.
BROOKS: Exactly. Right.
LIN: Yesterday the shooting that took place, took place right across from where a state trooper was handling a traffic accident.
BROOKS: Less than 50 yards from where he was.
LIN: So what does that tell you about...
BROOKS: Totally brazen. The guy doesn't care. Sometimes you say well, do these people want to get caught? I don't think this guy wants to get caught, you know, or this guy or woman, whoever it may be, or someone working together. Just totally brazen. Does not care and is doing this, I think, as a control, I am in control.
LIN: But what does it tell you about his next target, though?
BROOKS: I wish I knew.
LIN: A cop?
BROOKS: Well, you know...
LIN: A teacher?
BROOKS: It could be. It could be any of these. If it was a cop, if he had a beef against law enforcement, he probably could have picked that trooper yesterday. You know, and then, again, they say this thing, well, is this person just riding in, sitting there, just pure speculation, most, it's pure speculation that he's, that he or she is going out sitting, watching for their targets. Sitting there trying to blend in and then watch for their target. It's, you know, and a white van, a brown pickup truck. Who knows what vehicle it is?
LIN: What's the danger of focusing so much -- we keep hearing about a white van or a white box van. But we don't know for sure...
BROOKS: No, no, we don't.
LIN: ... that the shooter was firing from a white van.
BROOKS: Right. We don't. Thomas and I talked about this a little bit in the last hour, that sometimes when it, most of the time when you have a witness to a shooting, it's right, it's very close, and people will see someone jump into a car, run away. It's so much distance now from the victim to the shooter and where the shooting took place, they hear a shot, they look around, they're in a commercial area, as months of the incidents have been. They look around, they see cars coming and going. I think people are focusing on white vehicles, white vans in particular, because early in the investigation they said it was a white box van.
Early in the investigation, in one of the other shootings they had given a lookout over the police radio. There was a number of vehicles that they had listed, that they had put a lookout for.
LIN: Right, several witnesses had identified seeing white vans in the vicinity of the last two shootings.
BROOKS: Exactly. Right. And I think yesterday there was a male and a female in one of the white vans. There was another minivan that they saw, they stopped and that didn't pan out. But, you know, people have to just open their minds. If they see something that happened, look around for any kind of vehicle driving erratically, trying to get away from a scene, going the opposite way.
LIN: Somebody...
BROOKS: Somebody will see something.
LIN: Somebody, but somebody knows who this person is right now. Somebody has to realize that there's suspicious behavior, people aren't showing up at work, someone is acting brazenly, someone who has the ability to shoot these weapons or has these weapons at home.
BROOKS: Right. And the other thing I find odd, they call this person a sniper. Most of the people I know who are involved in guns and like to shoot, they use more than one weapon. We've only seen one weapon used, apparently, so far in this particular case.
LIN: But it's become his signature.
BROOKS: It has.
LIN: He wants law enforcement to know that he's been there.
BROOKS: Exactly.
LIN: All right...
BROOKS: So, that's unusual also.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Mike. Hopefully we'll hear more developments at 9:30 and 10:00 today, at the two news conferences.
BROOKS: Right. All right, Carol.
LIN: Thank you very much.
BROOKS: Thank you.
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