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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Sniper Claims Ninth Victim In Virgina Shopping Center; Military Offers Technology to Aid in Capture of Sniper
Aired October 15, 2002 - 17:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR (voice-over): The sniper strikes again. This time there are witnesses.
CHIEF J. THOMAS MANGER, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. POLICE: We're following up on all of that information.
BLITZER: The victim, an FBI intelligence analyst apparently shot at random. New sketches of suspect vehicles as police scramble to come up with a sketch of the shooter. We'll follow the hunt.
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD. POLICE: People are working. We're spending time with witnesses. We're making some progress.
BLITZER: Calling in the military, can high tech surveillance help trap the shooter; a community in fear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People here really didn't think it was going to come this close to their neighborhood.
BLITZER: One shot, can anyone learn to shoot from long range?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First round hit. Did I hit it straight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scary how easy that was.
BLITZER: The theories, who's behind the killings and why? I'll speak with former New York super-cop Bo Dietl.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, "Sniper On The Loose, The Search For A Killer."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Montgomery County, Maryland. The sniper stalking the Washington area has now taken the lives of nine innocent people, the latest a woman shot dead at a Virginia shopping center last night.
Let's go live to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's on the scene for us in Falls Church, Virginia with the late-breaking developments -- Ed. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Falls Church is about a ten-minute drive from downtown Washington, D.C. And when this shooting happened just after nine o'clock Eastern time last night, it didn't take long for authorities to descend on the area and try to capture the killer in the hopes that he might still be in this area. But despite those massive search efforts, that didn't happen. This killer was able to get away again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Forty-seven-year-old Linda Franklin and her husband were between two rows of cars at this Home Depot. They were loading up the trunk of their car in this two-story parking lot about 60 feet away from the store entrance. It appears to be a well- protected area. Concrete walls guard one side of the lot. Another shopping mall structure protects the other side.
The best view into this lot is from Route 50, a busy highway about 150 away from the shooting site. That's the roadway authorities rushed to close down after Monday night's shooting.
MANGER: There are a fair number of ways to leave that area. We had officers in the area as quickly as we could in an attempt to get any information we could about folks that were in that area.
LAVANDERA: Police were immediately looking for a light-colored Chevy Astro van like this one with the ladder rack. The dragnet was intensive. Hundreds of officers set up roadblocks. Surveillance helicopters swarmed the area. Tracking dogs were also brought in. Several agents working the scene say investigators were able to find a good number of strong witnesses. Police took those witnesses away from the scene for questioning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Now a few more tidbits about this investigation, where it stands now. Sources tell CNN that when the suspect's vehicle was leaving the scene here along Route 50 in Falls Church, Virginia that the car was headed eastbound toward Washington, D.C. We understand at some point that the suspect's vehicle made a U-turn on Route 50 heading back westbound toward the D.C. Beltway, 495, which wraps around the city, and at that point it's not exactly clear which direction the car headed. But sources do tell CNN that that was part of what happened in the immediate moments after the shooting.
We also are told by authorities that they were able to get from several witnesses partial license plate information, but despite having talked with several witnesses, they haven't been able to release anything conclusively just because there isn't any kind of conclusive evidence based on those witness interviews that have been going on.
And one other note about the Chevy Astro van, light-colored car that was seen leaving this area, that on the rear of the car it has a broken rear taillight so the authorities are warning people to perhaps be on the lookout for that piece of information if they do notice a light-colored Chevy Astro van around the area -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Lavandera, he's on the scene for us in Falls Church, Virginia, Fairfax County, thanks for that report.
And, as authorities step up their search for the killer, they may not have more to go on.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is with me here at Montgomery County Police Headquarters.
What's going on, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in this case where evidence appears to be relatively sparse, the testimony of those witnesses could be key.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw her on the floor laying down and she covered and her cart behind here with the stuff from Home Depot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went outside and offered to help because we're in the medical profession and the police said there's nothing left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw them go after a guy in a van that was parked down across the street.
MESERVE (voice-over): In this investigation, eyewitnesses are as valuable as gold, and the shooting in a crowded parking lot provided a wealth of them.
MICHAEL BOUCHARD, ATF: Witnesses are becoming more aware of what's going on and we're getting more information each time.
MESERVE: Witnesses Monday night have provided vehicle descriptions, partial license plate numbers, and according to law enforcement sources, are working with officials to come up with a composite drawing of a man acting suspiciously at the scene. Eyewitness testimony from earlier sniper slayings resulted in graphics of a white box truck and two white vans.
MOOSE: We'd like to be real clear, sir, that they are composites, that when you deal with victims that we don't all see the world the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Eyewitness testimony does have its limitations. Studies have shown that stress can impair the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, that if a weapon is involved that witnesses tend to concentrate more on the weapon than they do on the shooter, and third, that people may believe their memories are more accurate than they actually are, and so investigators like to compare and contrast descriptions and stories sifting through things much the way a reporter would. Fortunately in this case, they appear to be able to do so -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jeanne, you've been covering the story almost from Day One and been spending a lot of time with these investigators. Do they seem to be becoming increasingly more upbeat that they'll find this guy or guys or are they frustrated they seem to be at a dead end?
MESERVE: They do. The first sign of that, I think, came on your show on Sunday when we had FBI Agent Gary Bald on and he indicated that progress was indeed being made. That was repeated again in several press conferences. They really do seem to be more upbeat but they're not giving us any specific information as to why.
BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve thanks for that report.
And the Home Depot store where the latest shooting occurred is located at the Seven Corners Shopping Center. That's near Falls Church in Virginia, not far away from where I am right now. As the name implies, the shopping center is at a location where several major roads and highways come together. It's one of northern Virginia's busiest intersections, offering the sniper a choice of escape routes. Interstate 66 and 495 are nearby.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has been tracking this investigation for us. She now has more on the hunt for the killer -- Kathleen.
Unfortunately, we're going to have to fix some technical problems. We'll come back to Kathleen in just a moment and get her report.
In the meantime, if you have any information that might help in the search for the sniper, you can call the Montgomery County Police Hotline number and that number is this: 1-888-324-9800, and to contribute to the reward fund for Montgomery County, please call this number: 240-777-8970. And finally, here's the address to mail in information on the sniper case: Montgomery County Police Department, P.O. Box 7875, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20898-7875.
The Pentagon considers stepping in to catch a killer and look at how the National Defense Technology System may be used to track the sniper.
Plus, the tips are flooding in indeed but how do police sort them all out? The nuts and bolts of crime solving all of that still to come. And hobby under fire, amateur shooters who learn sniper techniques in their spare time, should the schools rethink their curriculum? We'll hear from both sides in the gun debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage.
Once again, CNN's Kathleen Koch has been tracking this investigation. She's joining me now live with more on the hunt for this killer -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, authorities say that they're more and more encouraged every day that this investigation progresses because with each shooting they get more and better information. But we were frankly surprised when they went ahead and released this graphic composite of the white Chevy Astro van that had been spotted by some of the witnesses to the Friday shooting in Massaponax, Virginia.
Now, they also put out a composite of a Ford Econovan, saying that while they're looking for only one vehicle, one white van in that particular shooting, that they couldn't get the witnesses to the shooting to agree as to what make of van it was. That's why they put out the two composites. But the important detail, authorities say, is that silver ladder rack or roof rack on the top of the van.
Now authorities admit, here in Montgomery County that in releasing this composite that they do run the risk of tainting the memories of the witnesses. In the shooting last night in Falls Church, Virginia, who report seeing a similar van, some of the also saying with the similar silver roof rack. The task force says it is working with those witnesses, talking to them and they are putting together a composite of the van that was spotted in last night's shooting and they say it may or may not be different from the ones that they released today in the other Virginia shooting in Spotsylvania County.
Now Chief Lewis also confirmed today that they have been looking at several persons of interest in this case, much of the information coming in based on tips. They are conducting interviews. They have been researching these people's whereabouts at the time of the various shootings, and that many of these people have then been eliminated as suspects.
And also, special agent-in-charge, ATF Agent Mike Bouchard, pointed out that they're also getting a lot of tips related to guns, gun ownership, and they're finding that there are some people who own guns, some of these assault rifles, who shouldn't own them, are owning them illegally and he says they're arresting these people but he really urged the media not to in any way describe these people as suspects in this case when they are being arrested for simply that violation, illegal gun ownership.
And, a lot of talk again today about suspects but no composite sketch or drawing ready to go out in the case of any of these shootings. And, Wolf, police are really wrestling with how much information to put out on this case. Chief Moose pointing out and very obvious, for instance last night, when Fairfax County Police said we have this man we're looking for with the left rear taillight that's out.
Putting that information out to the public enables the killer or killers, if it is indeed their vehicle, to change that light, thereby replacing it and removing that as something that might you know tip off police that hey, that's the van we're looking for, so a very difficult balancing act.
BLITZER: All right, Kathleen Koch, good report. Thanks for that information. KOCH: You bet.
BLITZER: And CNN has learned that the United States military may, repeat may, join the hunt for the serial sniper or snipers.
For the latest, let's go live to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She broke the story earlier today -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, an update. Sources now tell CNN that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has given the initial go ahead for high tech U.S. military equipment to be made available to law enforcement authorities to help hunt for the sniper who has been terrorizing the nation's capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The plan calls for the military to provide reconnaissance and surveillance equipment that might be used to try and quickly find the sniper within moments of a next attack. In addition, advanced communications gear will be used to allow the authorities to react faster.
Law enforcement authorities will request the equipment as needed but the military will have a tightly-controlled role. Troops will only operate the equipment, passing data to law enforcement authorities who would be alongside. It would be up to civilian authorities to chase and arrest any suspect.
Under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the military is prohibited from any role in domestic law enforcement. This is not the first time the military has assisted in law enforcement, however. For several years, troops have worked alongside civilian authorities in drug interdiction, looking for suspects but not participating in actual arrests.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Pentagon officials have asked that the details of the equipment being used not be made public so as not to jeopardize the investigation and they still emphasize it is up to law enforcement to decide how to proceed. But if there is another attack, the U.S. military stands ready here in this area to help hunt down the sniper -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And I know, Barbara, you've been reporting in the past few days that law enforcement has also asked the Pentagon, the military, for any information on perhaps a disgruntled military sniper who may have some grudge out there who may have been removed from the military. What can you tell us about that?
STARR: Indeed. The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division and other elements of the military law enforcement system have been asked to look through their books to see if they can locate any retired military person who might have had sniper training, who might be here in the metropolitan area, who might be someone of a background that would be of concern. We are led to believe that so far no such person has been located by any military law enforcement authorities, but from people we've spoken to, they are still keeping their eyes open -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr, she knows the Pentagon, thanks for joining us.
A crime in a highly-populated area, it increases the odds of witnesses and potentially the number of tips. How do police make sense of it all and what information will lead them to a killer?
Plus, one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the latest sniper shooting, he'll share what he saw because he took the pictures. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Nine innocent, wonderful people killed, two seriously injured, including a 13-year-old boy.
CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken has been looking into the background of last night's victim, the latest in this tragic death toll. He's joining us now live from Falls Church, Virginia.
Bob, tell us about her.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one is struck by the similarities, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) between the similarities of the despair that accompanies each of these shootings and the differences of each individual.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Linda Franklin lived her life in quiet anonymity, a 47-year-old mother of two adult children, but her life was taken in the unspeakable, incomprehensible way that has traumatized the area, and once again left a family in agony.
BILL MURRAY, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: The Franklin family is devastated by this tragic event. Linda's family is shocked by the senseless loss of life.
FRANKEN: Her death was laden with tragic irony. Linda Franklin worked for the FBI, an intelligence analyst for the Infrastructure Protection Center. Sources say, however, that there's no indication her killer knew that. FBI officials joined family and friends throughout the day, trying to offer comfort to at least one of the adult children and her husband, Ted, a civilian computer engineer who was by her side when she was gunned down.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller called Linda Franklin a dedicated employee whose death has left her colleagues deeply shocked and angry. The Franklins were planning to move from their condominium to another residence this Friday, and it was widely believed that it was at least possible the preparations made the fateful trip to the Home Depot necessary. And one other bitter irony, Linda Franklin was a survivor of breast cancer. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And after all that struggle, then her life was quickly snuffed out and the death made more unbearable, Wolf, by the question that's being asked by the family and the entire community, why -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bob, I know that everyone seems to agree that it was just a coincidence that she was a former FBI analyst, an intelligence analyst. But is there anyone looking into the possibility, remote as it might be, that she was deliberately targeted?
FRANKEN: Well, I'm sure that investigators at least considered that but they say that the circumstances overwhelmingly suggest that this was just the saddest of coincidences.
BLITZER: Bob Franken thanks for your report. Thank you very much.
And, gunned down at a Home Depot parking lot, when we return we'll talk to a man who was one of the first on the scene of last night's shooting.
Also, a community in fear, the D.C. metro area tries to get on with daily life but will there ever be a return to normal again? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage.
Reporter Dave Statter of WUSA-TV, our local Washington, D.C. affiliate was one of the first people to arrive on the scene of last night's shooting in Virginia. He's joining us now from Falls Church to talk about what he saw and heard.
Tell us, Dave, what you saw because we know you were there almost immediately.
DATE STATTER, WUSA CORRESPONDENT: I live within a half a mile of this shooting center. It's the Home Depot I shop at. I pulled up here and police hadn't even cordoned off the crime scene. In fact, I pulled in the opposite way police came in and I ended up just a few spaces from Linda Franklin's body. It was obvious she was dead. They brought in the medics a few seconds later to confirm what was very obvious.
Police then quickly looked around for witnesses and they seemed to find some, people who were willing to tell them what they saw. We didn't get to talk to those witnesses right away, but then police realized that this was clearly something that they had to be concerned about as being related to the sniper. They moved to cordon off that shopping center and I've never seen this before, police running with that yellow police tape to cordon off the area, and then widening out the area, and looking across the street to see possibly where this shot came from. BLITZER: You actually did shoot some videotape on the scene. You carry a camera with you and we have some of that videotape. Talk a little bit about what you filmed.
STATTER: Well, we filmed those officers running with that crime scene tape, the ambulance arriving here to look at Linda Franklin and to pronounce her dead here at the scene. We also saw a short time later, police probably ten minutes into the shooting scene realized that across the street was a white van with a roof ladder on it directly across Arlington Boulevard, Route 50, from this shopping center.
Police ran with guns drawn across the highway, through traffic, and approached three gentlemen who had their hands up by that point, checked them out and quickly realized that was not related. They went back to the process of then shutting down the area. It took about a half hour before the immediate area, Route 50 was shut down, but the interstates had already been shut down.
BLITZER: When you saw these dramatic pictures that we're showing our viewers right now, pictures that you shot, pictures that you took, did you think this was the end they had actually captured the killer or killers?
STATTER: I know they didn't have a suspect right there but they were stopping a lot of vehicles and I could hear from the police radio and from the people I work with who are listening to the police radios that there was a good look out. There was some specific information, and I thought it was possible with this information and the roadblocks being put up on the interstates nearby that they might get lucky this time, and certainly we're all hoping for that.
BLITZER: Dave, you know this area intimately. You've lived her for a long time, reported from here for a long time. How did this killer or killers manage to get away from that busy area, the intersection around what's called Seven Corners?
STATTER: That's a good question. We've heard the people saying that he first went eastbound, made a U-turn and went back westbound. I think there's still that focus when the shot rings out as we've seen in all these cases that people look toward the victim.
Obviously, some people saw the van that sped away, but maybe that information didn't get to the police quite in time for them to do anything. You have to remember police can't be absolutely everywhere. They're poised to shut down the interstates but Fairfax County is a big county. They have police officers standing by to respond but they still have to know where to respond.
BLITZER: Dave Statter on the scene for WUSA-TV our local affiliate, also doing some reporting for us, thanks Dave. Thanks very much.
Authorities indicate they got some good information from witnesses to last night's shooting and they've received thousands of tips from the public since the sniper attacks began. But how can investigators separate the wheat from the chaff?
Joining me now from New York, Bo Dietl, he's one of the most highly-decorated detectives in the history of the New York City Police Department. He's not a private investigator and a security consultant. His clients have ranged from major corporations to the Saudi Royal Family.
Bo, thanks for joining us.
BO DIETL, CHAIRMAN, BEAU DIETL & ASSOCIATES: Hi, Wolf.
BLITZER: How do they differentiate between the good tips versus the bad tips?
DIETL: Well the most important thing is wherever the information is coming in, wherever they're disseminating the information. They have to have the same detectives working on that. They assign people to track down each bit of information they have and they close it down by process of elimination. Everyone is a suspect until they can close that information down.
My big problem is here you have four counties, at least -- I think the fifth county including that -- and I'm just worrying about that one hand doesn't know what the other hand's doing.
And that's something that really -- the tips are where this case is going to be broken. The detectives will be breaking this case through a tip. These people have to go home. I feel as though since October 3, when there were the four murders within two hours, I still believe that there's two people involved. One person is pushing the other person.
And people laugh at me when I talk about the video games with the Doom video game and Columbine -- these people get involved and they become psychopathic with it. You have two young men, probably in their late teens, from the area, probably not part of a group. Probably may be loaners and they put this pact together there. This is a game out there. When you look at cross section of who is getting murdered.
These are not snipers these are murders. By staying snipers, we are giving them too much credit. They are killing men, women, black, white, Indian, children. When you can shoot a little boy, 13-years- old, in his back, you are a person who is very weak and don't want to face that person. I think they're going in the area, scanning the area and looking for a way out.
You've got to remember, Wolf. When that shot goes off people look right at the victim. These people are able to get away. You have two minutes. The police will be notified before they get there with two minutes.
Now a car driving 45 miles an hour out of the area, you are going two miles already. Four minutes, six minutes that car could be six to eight miles out of the area. They know already that they're going to close the interstate. So, hey, gee, I'm not going on the interstate if I'm going to shoot somebody. I'm going to find a back route and I'm going to look at it before I strike.
The thing about the weekends. Hey, I'd like to believe that these people are doing the shootings -- I say these because I really believe there's two people pushing one another -- that they only have access to these trucks or vehicles during the week days and that could stand fast why it's only happening on the week days.
Again the most important thing, Wolf, is going to be people. They've got to go home, pick up the phone, call the police -- people are acting unusual. That's how they're going to catch it. These are not serial murderers. These are people who are in a frenzy.
And I believe there's two personalities pushing each other here because, hey, you kill one person, you relief yourself. Two people, you get that feeling. But three, four people in two hours, it has all of the signs of two people working together pushing each other and wanting to be famous.
BLITZER: Bo, we've got a bunch of e-mails for you. Maybe you can answer some of them.
Neil in Ontario writes this: "Does the kind of weaponry the sniper has been using tell us anything about the kind of training he may have received? As I understand it, a trained sniper would be using a heavier round."
Does Neil from have a point there?
DIETL: Well, I bought my son an AR-15 when he was 12-years-old. We went to range. He's 23-years-old now. I bought it for target practice. He was shooting a target 200 yards away with an AR-15 with a scope, the little red dot.
And he's able to put these things in with about five minutes of me showing him how to do it. It's like at a carnival. It doesn't take a big expert to use this type of gun. This is a great gun. It's a very accurate gun and anybody can shoot it.
BLITZER: There's another e-mail we have now, Paul from New York. He's asking you this question: "Has anyone considered that the sniper waits until a white van is in the vicinity before shooting in order to divert the police and create a false lead?"
DIETL: Man, that is one of the questions that gives me the chills because if you look even around New York or anywhere, start counting the white vans -- I think there's over 20,000 in that area.
That would be a little thing, as far as just wait for a white van to be in the vicinity and then all of a sudden you have all of the time in the world. And God forbid, whoever's in my hairs of my site -- just happen to be that lady was in the hair of his sights.
But that can certainly be something. Because they watch the news, they're watching what's going on and we certainly can't let them know everything that we have. The time when the Tarot card was released, that was released by a leak from the police department. That's not the news media's fault that the police are releasing the information. We cannot give all of the information we have. And them (sic) detectives have a lot more and they're not releasing it anymore.
BLITZER: Bo, we just got a bunch of e-mails on this very same subject. And I want to read this one because Mike is reflective of this, perhaps, theory that's out there, at least on the Internet.
"Media have reported that there were Michaels arts and craft stores in the vicinity of five shootings. The name Michael is religiously significant in several ways. St. Michael is the patron saint of police officers and the name means `he who is like God.' Is `Michael' a message?"
Have you heard anything about this?
DIETL: Well I know there are a lot of Michaels stores. That's like saying, as far as they were in the vicinity. If the direction is at the Michael's stores, why would it be shot at Home Depot? I believe it would be a little more directed.
The other side, I think there's three Michaels stores with the 11 shootings. Coincidence. There's a lot of Michaels stores out there.
There's a thing with the video games again in this game, Doom. It becomes a statement. It goes "I am God." You become God and you can't get hit. It's part of this video game scenario. People think that I'm out of my mind talking about video games. People become -- they play it for six, eight hours. They become another person with these video games and they really believe that then they can go out and become this character.
And they hide behind the gun. It's a weak personality person. The only way he can show his strength is by shooting someone who doesn't know where he's coming from. If you notice, I don't think they can face a person. I think they're afraid to face a person and they are cowards. They are not snipers, they are murdering cowards and that's how we have to regard them.
BLITZER: Bo Dietl, thanks for your insight. We'll have you back. Appreciate it very much.
DIETL: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you.
And when we come back, fear and loathing in the D.C. metro area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to be scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Mixed emotions as residents try to get on with their lives. The community speaks up on the sniper when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: "The Search For A Killer."
Time now for the latest update in our "News Alert."
Authorities trying to catch a serial sniper in the Washington area are talking to witnesses where the latest victim was killed. Linda Franklin, an FBI analyst, was shot to death last night at a shopping center parking garage in Falls Church, Virginia. The ninth fatal shooting linked to the sniper and today, as the search for the sniper intensifies, investigators are releasing more information on the case.
The latest now from CNN's Kathleen Koch. She is here in Montgomery County with me -- Kathleen.
KOCH: Wolf, the latest on this is police are still looking for this white or light-colored, cream-colored Chevy Astro van that many witnesses saw at the scene of the shooting late last night. Despite a huge dragnet -- they shut down highways, major arteries and roads and bridges in the area for about three hours late last night. The killer or killers managed to get away after claiming his ninth victim.
Now police descended on the Seven Corners Shopping Center just after the 9:15 p.m. shooting. Cordoned off a very wide area. And had numerous good eyewitnesses again who tipped them off to the light- colored Chevy Astro van with a burned out left rear tail light leaving had the area.
Now the victim was a 47-year-old FBI intelligence analyst, Linda Franklin, of Arlington, Virginia. A mother of two grown children. She and her husband had been loading purchases into their vehicle outside of the Home Depot store when she was killed to a single shot to the head. Now authorities said she was pronounced dead at the scene. And though she worked for the FBI, she was not targeted for that reason. Just another random victim -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, thanks again. We'll come back to you, of course, as this story warrants.
Last night's shooting has heightened tensions in Fairfax County, Virginia. We have a report now from Jennifer Franciotti of CNN affiliate WBAL.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, OK, look out the window, and I look out, and I saw many police, patrols.
JENNIFER FRANCIOTTI, WBAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police that are investigating the latest attack in the serial sniper case, a 47-year-old woman shot and killed outside a Home Depot. The shopping plaza sits next to this apartment complex. When Claudia Molina (ph) heard the shot, she knew right away it was the sniper.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't know why. My heart told me. I feel scared and I told my husband, this is the sniper.
FRANCIOTTI: Across from Home Depot on Arlington Boulevard, members of a local church stand watch. They are volunteering to pump gas at an Exxon. Four of the attacks have happened at gas stations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to help calm the fear and the tension that's naturally a part of our lives at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. I think it's great that these guys are out here.
FRANCIOTTI: Erica deVoss (ph) thinks it's great, but she's trying to stay strong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I live scared, I'll always be scared, so I'm not going to be scared.
FRANCIOTTI: Still, a killer is on the loose, shooting at random, picking ordinary locations. Last night's murder took away a wife who was with her husband when the sniper fired.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just feel like we are not well protected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the more it happens, and the more random it seems, and the longer it goes on, you start to -- it starts to affect your way of life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jennifer Franciotti of our CNN affiliate WBAL, thanks for that report.
Jim Bohannon's radio talk show is carried on almost 400 stations around the country. He is joining us now to talk about this sniper investigation, how the public is reacting -- Jim, like me, you're a long time resident of this area. Have you ever seen anything like this?
JIM BOHANNON, TALK SHOW HOST: Nothing like this at all, Wolf. No, even after the attack on the Pentagon, for example, it somehow didn't seem to be quite as personal as this.
And for example, I've changed a lot of my habits. Working weird hours, I have certain filling stations that I have tended to go to, that I don't go to. I have a major purchase that I was planning for my home, frankly, because of the location, I think I'm going to wait until this is all over.
BLITZER: It sounds very familiar, very similar to everything -- not only the way I feel, but the way a lot of my friends and colleagues have been feeling as well.
You talk to people on your radio show every single day from this area. What kind of emotions, what are they saying to you? BOHANNON: We're getting a lot of things. Certainly a lot of anger, Wolf, also a fair amount of fear, and I think this is still from people who logically know that if you made a list of the top 50 ways to die in this area, that sniper wouldn't be on the list, but there is something so coldly personal about this, that it really has gripped people. People are making changes in their plans. My guess would be that the economy will show a significant dip just because people aren't going out to buy things they don't have to have.
BLITZER: And people are afraid to come to this area. There is a lot of tourists -- tourism is an important part of this economy here, and I'm sure you have a lot of cases of people saying maybe this is not a good time to visit the Washington, D.C. area.
BOHANNON: I've heard that very thing said to me, and people, I think, are gripped by not only the fear of this, but the irrationality of it.
There doesn't seem to be anything that can be explained by this. They understand -- if they don't condone, say holding up a convenience store. There is money there. This defies understanding.
BLITZER: And until they capture this sniper or snipers, there won't be the finality that occurred after 9/11, or even after the anthrax letter attacks which affected this area as well. As a result, it's so random, so open-ended. That simply magnifies the fear.
BOHANNON: It does magnify the fear, and also something else that I've noted: people are grasping for any kind of a pattern that they can find, and we've had a lot of theories put forward, some, I'm sure, with merit, many without, but people really want to understand what's at work here.
BLITZER: And the other point that is so terrifying, children. Children are going to school. There's a lockdown, basically, in all the Washington-area schools, meaning kids can't go outside and play, play in the playgrounds, play soccer, play football, and do the kinds of normal things in the fall that kids would love to do. I don't remember anything like that ever affecting this area.
BOHANNON: No, I don't either. Nothing at all that has ever had this magnitude of effect. Some of it has been a bit of overreacting. There was a case a few days ago of a group of students from Philadelphia who were going to go to Baltimore, which is maybe -- what -- 40 miles from the nearest shooting, and they were going to go indoors to the aquarium there, and they canceled the trip. That is overreacting.
BLITZER: What about all these conspiracy theories? I'm sure your radio phone-in callers are coming up with all sorts of weird ideas, but at the same time, the investigators are saying they can't rule out almost anything right now.
BOHANNON: I don't think they can. We've had, certainly, a lot of calls that al Qaeda could be behind this. I've subscribed to the theory that Osama bin Laden would probably be bragging about another infidel dying if that were the case. But you can't rule it out.
People have suggested the person might be young, they might be middle-aged, they might be former police, they might be former military. They might be kids on kicks. I've heard them all.
BLITZER: You, like me, we work in the news media. But let's take a look, step back for a second. Are we doing a responsible job by this near wall to wall coverage?
BOHANNON: I think we have to. I really do. Let's look at other side of the coin. Let's say that this was happening, and we all got together and said, Gee, if we tell people about this, we are playing into the hands of the killer, and so we cover it up.
Number one, you couldn't keep this under wraps, and number two, all that would happen would be that we would lose our credibility. We are forced to play this to the tune being called by this sniper. It's really beyond our control.
BLITZER: It certainly has dominated the news, we are thinking, at least, with the 5 million people who live in the greater Washington, D.C. area to the point that other important news, whether Iraq, or the economy, the elections that are coming up less than -- what -- three weeks away, nobody seems to be paying much attention to anything else.
BOHANNON: No, they don't, and that is unfortunate, because, obviously, those are things that are very crucial, and for example, on the election, those are things we can do something about. We can vote. We can make our feelings known about the Iraq war.
Ironically, we are focusing on something that the citizenry has no control over whatsoever, but I understand it. Living here, I am gripped by this. I don't take an action outdoors, Wolf, in which I don't think, is this a possible sniper situation?
BLITZER: I think I agree with you. Jim Bohannon, I've been listening to you for years. Thanks for joining us.
BOHANNON: Thank you very much.
BLITZER: One of the best in the business.
Amateur snipers and the schools that teach them under fire. Are there good reasons for civilians to learn long range shooting techniques? Both sides of the debate when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The sniper attacks are renewing debate over the Second Amendment. Some question whether sniper schools glorify or even promote random violence.
Our national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this isolated pocket of northern Arizona, a red flag high on a flag poll means one thing.
It means the guns are out at a firearms training school, where mostly civilian gun owners take classes ranging from advanced tactical pistol training to precision rifle firing, which is what many would also refer to as basic sniper training.
Retired Marine Colonel Bob Young is the V.P. of operations at the 1600 acre Gunsite Academy.
COL. BOB YOUNG (RET.), GUNSITE ACADEMY: At age 60, I'm interested in avoiding all the trouble, but if it comes to it, I will take care of business.
TUCHMAN: Gunsite says all its students have to pass a police background check and get letters of recommendation from reputable individuals.
Why do you need to have knowledge of long range shooting? When would you ever use such a thing?
JACK SHATTUCK: You just never know. You never know. If you practice at a long range, you are more proficient short range.
TUCHMAN: This emergency room physician says he's concerned about crime and also wants to sharpen up on his hunting skills.
YOUNG: What you do is you shoot at ranges up to 600 yards with precision rifles, using bolt action rifles similar to what this gentleman -- similar to what this terrorist probably using now, and you learn how to shoot coyotes and prairie dogs out about 600 yards.
TOM DIAZ, VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: I think the only justifiable school is the school that teaches military or professional law enforcement personnel.
TUCHMAN: Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center says this type of program glorifies the techniques and methods of criminal snipers.
DIAZ: I think it's irresponsible for people who have this knowledge to simply teach it at random to civilians who literally have no business sniping.
YOUNG: I think they are misinformed and I think they have their own political agenda. The information is out there, whether it's taught by my instructors or taught from a CD that they bought. It's not going to make any difference.
TUCHMAN: Col. Young also says one should not infer the Washington sniper necessarily has any training. To try to demonstrate that point, he asks me to shoot a Ruger mini 14 rifle that takes the same type of bullets being used in Washington.
The target is more than 100 yards away and I've never fired a rifle before.
YOUNG: First round hit. Finger straight.
TUCHMAN: It's scary how easy that was.
Gun enthusiasts don't come here to the Arizona high desert on a whim. This course costs $1500 for five days and many come year after year.
Critics wish these gun owners would see what's happening in Washington and think twice about this type of program. But these students stress, it only makes them want to come here even more.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Paulden, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And some of my final thoughts as well as your thoughts on this sniper on the loose, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: As you can imagine, we're getting flooded with e-mails from our viewers not only in the United States, but indeed from around the world.
Many of you have some very, very strongly-felt opinions. I want to read a few of them right now.
Jessica, for example is writing this: "The D.C. sniper is obviously a very angry guy who believes he deserves recognition for his consummate skill for killing with a single shot from a great distance without being spotted. He's making a point of showing the cops how skilled he is, committing his crimes in broad daylight, under their noses, in highly trafficked area. He wanted everyone to know he's smarter than law enforcement. I'll bet he was turned down fro a job on a SWAT team and his anger is stemming from that rejection."
We have another e-mail from Edite who writes this: "Have you forgotten to report that D.C. area residents are not the only ones terrified by the sniper's actions? Those of us with families in the affected area are also filled with a palpable tension that only eases with crying. My family will most likely defer our Christmas trip to D.C. until this monster is caught."
That would be tragic, indeed Edite, if that were to occur. Months from now, this sniper must be found, obviously, very, very soon to avoid that kind of feeling all along.
I have to tell you and our viewers around United States, I've been getting a lot of personal phone calls, e-mails from friends of mine who are also reluctant to come to Washington around this time. They're very concerned about what's going on. That would be unfortunate, if this serial sniper remains at large much longer.
That's unfortunately all the time we have today. Please stay with CNN for continuing coverage, tonight, tomorrow, for all the late breaking developments.
These programming notes: tonight at 8 Eastern, a special report with CONNIE CHUNG, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. on the West Coast.
Also, at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight, "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown will dedicate the entire hour to this very important story. We'll show you how a rifle expert is using what's going on.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Montgomery County, Maryland.
"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Military Offers Technology to Aid in Capture of Sniper>
Aired October 15, 2002 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR (voice-over): The sniper strikes again. This time there are witnesses.
CHIEF J. THOMAS MANGER, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. POLICE: We're following up on all of that information.
BLITZER: The victim, an FBI intelligence analyst apparently shot at random. New sketches of suspect vehicles as police scramble to come up with a sketch of the shooter. We'll follow the hunt.
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD. POLICE: People are working. We're spending time with witnesses. We're making some progress.
BLITZER: Calling in the military, can high tech surveillance help trap the shooter; a community in fear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People here really didn't think it was going to come this close to their neighborhood.
BLITZER: One shot, can anyone learn to shoot from long range?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First round hit. Did I hit it straight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scary how easy that was.
BLITZER: The theories, who's behind the killings and why? I'll speak with former New York super-cop Bo Dietl.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, "Sniper On The Loose, The Search For A Killer."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (on camera): Thanks for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Montgomery County, Maryland. The sniper stalking the Washington area has now taken the lives of nine innocent people, the latest a woman shot dead at a Virginia shopping center last night.
Let's go live to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's on the scene for us in Falls Church, Virginia with the late-breaking developments -- Ed. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Falls Church is about a ten-minute drive from downtown Washington, D.C. And when this shooting happened just after nine o'clock Eastern time last night, it didn't take long for authorities to descend on the area and try to capture the killer in the hopes that he might still be in this area. But despite those massive search efforts, that didn't happen. This killer was able to get away again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Forty-seven-year-old Linda Franklin and her husband were between two rows of cars at this Home Depot. They were loading up the trunk of their car in this two-story parking lot about 60 feet away from the store entrance. It appears to be a well- protected area. Concrete walls guard one side of the lot. Another shopping mall structure protects the other side.
The best view into this lot is from Route 50, a busy highway about 150 away from the shooting site. That's the roadway authorities rushed to close down after Monday night's shooting.
MANGER: There are a fair number of ways to leave that area. We had officers in the area as quickly as we could in an attempt to get any information we could about folks that were in that area.
LAVANDERA: Police were immediately looking for a light-colored Chevy Astro van like this one with the ladder rack. The dragnet was intensive. Hundreds of officers set up roadblocks. Surveillance helicopters swarmed the area. Tracking dogs were also brought in. Several agents working the scene say investigators were able to find a good number of strong witnesses. Police took those witnesses away from the scene for questioning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Now a few more tidbits about this investigation, where it stands now. Sources tell CNN that when the suspect's vehicle was leaving the scene here along Route 50 in Falls Church, Virginia that the car was headed eastbound toward Washington, D.C. We understand at some point that the suspect's vehicle made a U-turn on Route 50 heading back westbound toward the D.C. Beltway, 495, which wraps around the city, and at that point it's not exactly clear which direction the car headed. But sources do tell CNN that that was part of what happened in the immediate moments after the shooting.
We also are told by authorities that they were able to get from several witnesses partial license plate information, but despite having talked with several witnesses, they haven't been able to release anything conclusively just because there isn't any kind of conclusive evidence based on those witness interviews that have been going on.
And one other note about the Chevy Astro van, light-colored car that was seen leaving this area, that on the rear of the car it has a broken rear taillight so the authorities are warning people to perhaps be on the lookout for that piece of information if they do notice a light-colored Chevy Astro van around the area -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Lavandera, he's on the scene for us in Falls Church, Virginia, Fairfax County, thanks for that report.
And, as authorities step up their search for the killer, they may not have more to go on.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is with me here at Montgomery County Police Headquarters.
What's going on, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in this case where evidence appears to be relatively sparse, the testimony of those witnesses could be key.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw her on the floor laying down and she covered and her cart behind here with the stuff from Home Depot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went outside and offered to help because we're in the medical profession and the police said there's nothing left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw them go after a guy in a van that was parked down across the street.
MESERVE (voice-over): In this investigation, eyewitnesses are as valuable as gold, and the shooting in a crowded parking lot provided a wealth of them.
MICHAEL BOUCHARD, ATF: Witnesses are becoming more aware of what's going on and we're getting more information each time.
MESERVE: Witnesses Monday night have provided vehicle descriptions, partial license plate numbers, and according to law enforcement sources, are working with officials to come up with a composite drawing of a man acting suspiciously at the scene. Eyewitness testimony from earlier sniper slayings resulted in graphics of a white box truck and two white vans.
MOOSE: We'd like to be real clear, sir, that they are composites, that when you deal with victims that we don't all see the world the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Eyewitness testimony does have its limitations. Studies have shown that stress can impair the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, that if a weapon is involved that witnesses tend to concentrate more on the weapon than they do on the shooter, and third, that people may believe their memories are more accurate than they actually are, and so investigators like to compare and contrast descriptions and stories sifting through things much the way a reporter would. Fortunately in this case, they appear to be able to do so -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jeanne, you've been covering the story almost from Day One and been spending a lot of time with these investigators. Do they seem to be becoming increasingly more upbeat that they'll find this guy or guys or are they frustrated they seem to be at a dead end?
MESERVE: They do. The first sign of that, I think, came on your show on Sunday when we had FBI Agent Gary Bald on and he indicated that progress was indeed being made. That was repeated again in several press conferences. They really do seem to be more upbeat but they're not giving us any specific information as to why.
BLITZER: Jeanne Meserve thanks for that report.
And the Home Depot store where the latest shooting occurred is located at the Seven Corners Shopping Center. That's near Falls Church in Virginia, not far away from where I am right now. As the name implies, the shopping center is at a location where several major roads and highways come together. It's one of northern Virginia's busiest intersections, offering the sniper a choice of escape routes. Interstate 66 and 495 are nearby.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has been tracking this investigation for us. She now has more on the hunt for the killer -- Kathleen.
Unfortunately, we're going to have to fix some technical problems. We'll come back to Kathleen in just a moment and get her report.
In the meantime, if you have any information that might help in the search for the sniper, you can call the Montgomery County Police Hotline number and that number is this: 1-888-324-9800, and to contribute to the reward fund for Montgomery County, please call this number: 240-777-8970. And finally, here's the address to mail in information on the sniper case: Montgomery County Police Department, P.O. Box 7875, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20898-7875.
The Pentagon considers stepping in to catch a killer and look at how the National Defense Technology System may be used to track the sniper.
Plus, the tips are flooding in indeed but how do police sort them all out? The nuts and bolts of crime solving all of that still to come. And hobby under fire, amateur shooters who learn sniper techniques in their spare time, should the schools rethink their curriculum? We'll hear from both sides in the gun debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage.
Once again, CNN's Kathleen Koch has been tracking this investigation. She's joining me now live with more on the hunt for this killer -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, authorities say that they're more and more encouraged every day that this investigation progresses because with each shooting they get more and better information. But we were frankly surprised when they went ahead and released this graphic composite of the white Chevy Astro van that had been spotted by some of the witnesses to the Friday shooting in Massaponax, Virginia.
Now, they also put out a composite of a Ford Econovan, saying that while they're looking for only one vehicle, one white van in that particular shooting, that they couldn't get the witnesses to the shooting to agree as to what make of van it was. That's why they put out the two composites. But the important detail, authorities say, is that silver ladder rack or roof rack on the top of the van.
Now authorities admit, here in Montgomery County that in releasing this composite that they do run the risk of tainting the memories of the witnesses. In the shooting last night in Falls Church, Virginia, who report seeing a similar van, some of the also saying with the similar silver roof rack. The task force says it is working with those witnesses, talking to them and they are putting together a composite of the van that was spotted in last night's shooting and they say it may or may not be different from the ones that they released today in the other Virginia shooting in Spotsylvania County.
Now Chief Lewis also confirmed today that they have been looking at several persons of interest in this case, much of the information coming in based on tips. They are conducting interviews. They have been researching these people's whereabouts at the time of the various shootings, and that many of these people have then been eliminated as suspects.
And also, special agent-in-charge, ATF Agent Mike Bouchard, pointed out that they're also getting a lot of tips related to guns, gun ownership, and they're finding that there are some people who own guns, some of these assault rifles, who shouldn't own them, are owning them illegally and he says they're arresting these people but he really urged the media not to in any way describe these people as suspects in this case when they are being arrested for simply that violation, illegal gun ownership.
And, a lot of talk again today about suspects but no composite sketch or drawing ready to go out in the case of any of these shootings. And, Wolf, police are really wrestling with how much information to put out on this case. Chief Moose pointing out and very obvious, for instance last night, when Fairfax County Police said we have this man we're looking for with the left rear taillight that's out.
Putting that information out to the public enables the killer or killers, if it is indeed their vehicle, to change that light, thereby replacing it and removing that as something that might you know tip off police that hey, that's the van we're looking for, so a very difficult balancing act.
BLITZER: All right, Kathleen Koch, good report. Thanks for that information. KOCH: You bet.
BLITZER: And CNN has learned that the United States military may, repeat may, join the hunt for the serial sniper or snipers.
For the latest, let's go live to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She broke the story earlier today -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, an update. Sources now tell CNN that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has given the initial go ahead for high tech U.S. military equipment to be made available to law enforcement authorities to help hunt for the sniper who has been terrorizing the nation's capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): The plan calls for the military to provide reconnaissance and surveillance equipment that might be used to try and quickly find the sniper within moments of a next attack. In addition, advanced communications gear will be used to allow the authorities to react faster.
Law enforcement authorities will request the equipment as needed but the military will have a tightly-controlled role. Troops will only operate the equipment, passing data to law enforcement authorities who would be alongside. It would be up to civilian authorities to chase and arrest any suspect.
Under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the military is prohibited from any role in domestic law enforcement. This is not the first time the military has assisted in law enforcement, however. For several years, troops have worked alongside civilian authorities in drug interdiction, looking for suspects but not participating in actual arrests.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, Pentagon officials have asked that the details of the equipment being used not be made public so as not to jeopardize the investigation and they still emphasize it is up to law enforcement to decide how to proceed. But if there is another attack, the U.S. military stands ready here in this area to help hunt down the sniper -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And I know, Barbara, you've been reporting in the past few days that law enforcement has also asked the Pentagon, the military, for any information on perhaps a disgruntled military sniper who may have some grudge out there who may have been removed from the military. What can you tell us about that?
STARR: Indeed. The U.S. Army's Criminal Investigative Division and other elements of the military law enforcement system have been asked to look through their books to see if they can locate any retired military person who might have had sniper training, who might be here in the metropolitan area, who might be someone of a background that would be of concern. We are led to believe that so far no such person has been located by any military law enforcement authorities, but from people we've spoken to, they are still keeping their eyes open -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr, she knows the Pentagon, thanks for joining us.
A crime in a highly-populated area, it increases the odds of witnesses and potentially the number of tips. How do police make sense of it all and what information will lead them to a killer?
Plus, one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the latest sniper shooting, he'll share what he saw because he took the pictures. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Nine innocent, wonderful people killed, two seriously injured, including a 13-year-old boy.
CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken has been looking into the background of last night's victim, the latest in this tragic death toll. He's joining us now live from Falls Church, Virginia.
Bob, tell us about her.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, one is struck by the similarities, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) between the similarities of the despair that accompanies each of these shootings and the differences of each individual.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Linda Franklin lived her life in quiet anonymity, a 47-year-old mother of two adult children, but her life was taken in the unspeakable, incomprehensible way that has traumatized the area, and once again left a family in agony.
BILL MURRAY, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: The Franklin family is devastated by this tragic event. Linda's family is shocked by the senseless loss of life.
FRANKEN: Her death was laden with tragic irony. Linda Franklin worked for the FBI, an intelligence analyst for the Infrastructure Protection Center. Sources say, however, that there's no indication her killer knew that. FBI officials joined family and friends throughout the day, trying to offer comfort to at least one of the adult children and her husband, Ted, a civilian computer engineer who was by her side when she was gunned down.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller called Linda Franklin a dedicated employee whose death has left her colleagues deeply shocked and angry. The Franklins were planning to move from their condominium to another residence this Friday, and it was widely believed that it was at least possible the preparations made the fateful trip to the Home Depot necessary. And one other bitter irony, Linda Franklin was a survivor of breast cancer. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And after all that struggle, then her life was quickly snuffed out and the death made more unbearable, Wolf, by the question that's being asked by the family and the entire community, why -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bob, I know that everyone seems to agree that it was just a coincidence that she was a former FBI analyst, an intelligence analyst. But is there anyone looking into the possibility, remote as it might be, that she was deliberately targeted?
FRANKEN: Well, I'm sure that investigators at least considered that but they say that the circumstances overwhelmingly suggest that this was just the saddest of coincidences.
BLITZER: Bob Franken thanks for your report. Thank you very much.
And, gunned down at a Home Depot parking lot, when we return we'll talk to a man who was one of the first on the scene of last night's shooting.
Also, a community in fear, the D.C. metro area tries to get on with daily life but will there ever be a return to normal again? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage.
Reporter Dave Statter of WUSA-TV, our local Washington, D.C. affiliate was one of the first people to arrive on the scene of last night's shooting in Virginia. He's joining us now from Falls Church to talk about what he saw and heard.
Tell us, Dave, what you saw because we know you were there almost immediately.
DATE STATTER, WUSA CORRESPONDENT: I live within a half a mile of this shooting center. It's the Home Depot I shop at. I pulled up here and police hadn't even cordoned off the crime scene. In fact, I pulled in the opposite way police came in and I ended up just a few spaces from Linda Franklin's body. It was obvious she was dead. They brought in the medics a few seconds later to confirm what was very obvious.
Police then quickly looked around for witnesses and they seemed to find some, people who were willing to tell them what they saw. We didn't get to talk to those witnesses right away, but then police realized that this was clearly something that they had to be concerned about as being related to the sniper. They moved to cordon off that shopping center and I've never seen this before, police running with that yellow police tape to cordon off the area, and then widening out the area, and looking across the street to see possibly where this shot came from. BLITZER: You actually did shoot some videotape on the scene. You carry a camera with you and we have some of that videotape. Talk a little bit about what you filmed.
STATTER: Well, we filmed those officers running with that crime scene tape, the ambulance arriving here to look at Linda Franklin and to pronounce her dead here at the scene. We also saw a short time later, police probably ten minutes into the shooting scene realized that across the street was a white van with a roof ladder on it directly across Arlington Boulevard, Route 50, from this shopping center.
Police ran with guns drawn across the highway, through traffic, and approached three gentlemen who had their hands up by that point, checked them out and quickly realized that was not related. They went back to the process of then shutting down the area. It took about a half hour before the immediate area, Route 50 was shut down, but the interstates had already been shut down.
BLITZER: When you saw these dramatic pictures that we're showing our viewers right now, pictures that you shot, pictures that you took, did you think this was the end they had actually captured the killer or killers?
STATTER: I know they didn't have a suspect right there but they were stopping a lot of vehicles and I could hear from the police radio and from the people I work with who are listening to the police radios that there was a good look out. There was some specific information, and I thought it was possible with this information and the roadblocks being put up on the interstates nearby that they might get lucky this time, and certainly we're all hoping for that.
BLITZER: Dave, you know this area intimately. You've lived her for a long time, reported from here for a long time. How did this killer or killers manage to get away from that busy area, the intersection around what's called Seven Corners?
STATTER: That's a good question. We've heard the people saying that he first went eastbound, made a U-turn and went back westbound. I think there's still that focus when the shot rings out as we've seen in all these cases that people look toward the victim.
Obviously, some people saw the van that sped away, but maybe that information didn't get to the police quite in time for them to do anything. You have to remember police can't be absolutely everywhere. They're poised to shut down the interstates but Fairfax County is a big county. They have police officers standing by to respond but they still have to know where to respond.
BLITZER: Dave Statter on the scene for WUSA-TV our local affiliate, also doing some reporting for us, thanks Dave. Thanks very much.
Authorities indicate they got some good information from witnesses to last night's shooting and they've received thousands of tips from the public since the sniper attacks began. But how can investigators separate the wheat from the chaff?
Joining me now from New York, Bo Dietl, he's one of the most highly-decorated detectives in the history of the New York City Police Department. He's not a private investigator and a security consultant. His clients have ranged from major corporations to the Saudi Royal Family.
Bo, thanks for joining us.
BO DIETL, CHAIRMAN, BEAU DIETL & ASSOCIATES: Hi, Wolf.
BLITZER: How do they differentiate between the good tips versus the bad tips?
DIETL: Well the most important thing is wherever the information is coming in, wherever they're disseminating the information. They have to have the same detectives working on that. They assign people to track down each bit of information they have and they close it down by process of elimination. Everyone is a suspect until they can close that information down.
My big problem is here you have four counties, at least -- I think the fifth county including that -- and I'm just worrying about that one hand doesn't know what the other hand's doing.
And that's something that really -- the tips are where this case is going to be broken. The detectives will be breaking this case through a tip. These people have to go home. I feel as though since October 3, when there were the four murders within two hours, I still believe that there's two people involved. One person is pushing the other person.
And people laugh at me when I talk about the video games with the Doom video game and Columbine -- these people get involved and they become psychopathic with it. You have two young men, probably in their late teens, from the area, probably not part of a group. Probably may be loaners and they put this pact together there. This is a game out there. When you look at cross section of who is getting murdered.
These are not snipers these are murders. By staying snipers, we are giving them too much credit. They are killing men, women, black, white, Indian, children. When you can shoot a little boy, 13-years- old, in his back, you are a person who is very weak and don't want to face that person. I think they're going in the area, scanning the area and looking for a way out.
You've got to remember, Wolf. When that shot goes off people look right at the victim. These people are able to get away. You have two minutes. The police will be notified before they get there with two minutes.
Now a car driving 45 miles an hour out of the area, you are going two miles already. Four minutes, six minutes that car could be six to eight miles out of the area. They know already that they're going to close the interstate. So, hey, gee, I'm not going on the interstate if I'm going to shoot somebody. I'm going to find a back route and I'm going to look at it before I strike.
The thing about the weekends. Hey, I'd like to believe that these people are doing the shootings -- I say these because I really believe there's two people pushing one another -- that they only have access to these trucks or vehicles during the week days and that could stand fast why it's only happening on the week days.
Again the most important thing, Wolf, is going to be people. They've got to go home, pick up the phone, call the police -- people are acting unusual. That's how they're going to catch it. These are not serial murderers. These are people who are in a frenzy.
And I believe there's two personalities pushing each other here because, hey, you kill one person, you relief yourself. Two people, you get that feeling. But three, four people in two hours, it has all of the signs of two people working together pushing each other and wanting to be famous.
BLITZER: Bo, we've got a bunch of e-mails for you. Maybe you can answer some of them.
Neil in Ontario writes this: "Does the kind of weaponry the sniper has been using tell us anything about the kind of training he may have received? As I understand it, a trained sniper would be using a heavier round."
Does Neil from have a point there?
DIETL: Well, I bought my son an AR-15 when he was 12-years-old. We went to range. He's 23-years-old now. I bought it for target practice. He was shooting a target 200 yards away with an AR-15 with a scope, the little red dot.
And he's able to put these things in with about five minutes of me showing him how to do it. It's like at a carnival. It doesn't take a big expert to use this type of gun. This is a great gun. It's a very accurate gun and anybody can shoot it.
BLITZER: There's another e-mail we have now, Paul from New York. He's asking you this question: "Has anyone considered that the sniper waits until a white van is in the vicinity before shooting in order to divert the police and create a false lead?"
DIETL: Man, that is one of the questions that gives me the chills because if you look even around New York or anywhere, start counting the white vans -- I think there's over 20,000 in that area.
That would be a little thing, as far as just wait for a white van to be in the vicinity and then all of a sudden you have all of the time in the world. And God forbid, whoever's in my hairs of my site -- just happen to be that lady was in the hair of his sights.
But that can certainly be something. Because they watch the news, they're watching what's going on and we certainly can't let them know everything that we have. The time when the Tarot card was released, that was released by a leak from the police department. That's not the news media's fault that the police are releasing the information. We cannot give all of the information we have. And them (sic) detectives have a lot more and they're not releasing it anymore.
BLITZER: Bo, we just got a bunch of e-mails on this very same subject. And I want to read this one because Mike is reflective of this, perhaps, theory that's out there, at least on the Internet.
"Media have reported that there were Michaels arts and craft stores in the vicinity of five shootings. The name Michael is religiously significant in several ways. St. Michael is the patron saint of police officers and the name means `he who is like God.' Is `Michael' a message?"
Have you heard anything about this?
DIETL: Well I know there are a lot of Michaels stores. That's like saying, as far as they were in the vicinity. If the direction is at the Michael's stores, why would it be shot at Home Depot? I believe it would be a little more directed.
The other side, I think there's three Michaels stores with the 11 shootings. Coincidence. There's a lot of Michaels stores out there.
There's a thing with the video games again in this game, Doom. It becomes a statement. It goes "I am God." You become God and you can't get hit. It's part of this video game scenario. People think that I'm out of my mind talking about video games. People become -- they play it for six, eight hours. They become another person with these video games and they really believe that then they can go out and become this character.
And they hide behind the gun. It's a weak personality person. The only way he can show his strength is by shooting someone who doesn't know where he's coming from. If you notice, I don't think they can face a person. I think they're afraid to face a person and they are cowards. They are not snipers, they are murdering cowards and that's how we have to regard them.
BLITZER: Bo Dietl, thanks for your insight. We'll have you back. Appreciate it very much.
DIETL: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you.
And when we come back, fear and loathing in the D.C. metro area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to be scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Mixed emotions as residents try to get on with their lives. The community speaks up on the sniper when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to this special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: "The Search For A Killer."
Time now for the latest update in our "News Alert."
Authorities trying to catch a serial sniper in the Washington area are talking to witnesses where the latest victim was killed. Linda Franklin, an FBI analyst, was shot to death last night at a shopping center parking garage in Falls Church, Virginia. The ninth fatal shooting linked to the sniper and today, as the search for the sniper intensifies, investigators are releasing more information on the case.
The latest now from CNN's Kathleen Koch. She is here in Montgomery County with me -- Kathleen.
KOCH: Wolf, the latest on this is police are still looking for this white or light-colored, cream-colored Chevy Astro van that many witnesses saw at the scene of the shooting late last night. Despite a huge dragnet -- they shut down highways, major arteries and roads and bridges in the area for about three hours late last night. The killer or killers managed to get away after claiming his ninth victim.
Now police descended on the Seven Corners Shopping Center just after the 9:15 p.m. shooting. Cordoned off a very wide area. And had numerous good eyewitnesses again who tipped them off to the light- colored Chevy Astro van with a burned out left rear tail light leaving had the area.
Now the victim was a 47-year-old FBI intelligence analyst, Linda Franklin, of Arlington, Virginia. A mother of two grown children. She and her husband had been loading purchases into their vehicle outside of the Home Depot store when she was killed to a single shot to the head. Now authorities said she was pronounced dead at the scene. And though she worked for the FBI, she was not targeted for that reason. Just another random victim -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Kathleen Koch, thanks again. We'll come back to you, of course, as this story warrants.
Last night's shooting has heightened tensions in Fairfax County, Virginia. We have a report now from Jennifer Franciotti of CNN affiliate WBAL.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, OK, look out the window, and I look out, and I saw many police, patrols.
JENNIFER FRANCIOTTI, WBAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police that are investigating the latest attack in the serial sniper case, a 47-year-old woman shot and killed outside a Home Depot. The shopping plaza sits next to this apartment complex. When Claudia Molina (ph) heard the shot, she knew right away it was the sniper.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't know why. My heart told me. I feel scared and I told my husband, this is the sniper.
FRANCIOTTI: Across from Home Depot on Arlington Boulevard, members of a local church stand watch. They are volunteering to pump gas at an Exxon. Four of the attacks have happened at gas stations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to help calm the fear and the tension that's naturally a part of our lives at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. I think it's great that these guys are out here.
FRANCIOTTI: Erica deVoss (ph) thinks it's great, but she's trying to stay strong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I live scared, I'll always be scared, so I'm not going to be scared.
FRANCIOTTI: Still, a killer is on the loose, shooting at random, picking ordinary locations. Last night's murder took away a wife who was with her husband when the sniper fired.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just feel like we are not well protected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the more it happens, and the more random it seems, and the longer it goes on, you start to -- it starts to affect your way of life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Jennifer Franciotti of our CNN affiliate WBAL, thanks for that report.
Jim Bohannon's radio talk show is carried on almost 400 stations around the country. He is joining us now to talk about this sniper investigation, how the public is reacting -- Jim, like me, you're a long time resident of this area. Have you ever seen anything like this?
JIM BOHANNON, TALK SHOW HOST: Nothing like this at all, Wolf. No, even after the attack on the Pentagon, for example, it somehow didn't seem to be quite as personal as this.
And for example, I've changed a lot of my habits. Working weird hours, I have certain filling stations that I have tended to go to, that I don't go to. I have a major purchase that I was planning for my home, frankly, because of the location, I think I'm going to wait until this is all over.
BLITZER: It sounds very familiar, very similar to everything -- not only the way I feel, but the way a lot of my friends and colleagues have been feeling as well.
You talk to people on your radio show every single day from this area. What kind of emotions, what are they saying to you? BOHANNON: We're getting a lot of things. Certainly a lot of anger, Wolf, also a fair amount of fear, and I think this is still from people who logically know that if you made a list of the top 50 ways to die in this area, that sniper wouldn't be on the list, but there is something so coldly personal about this, that it really has gripped people. People are making changes in their plans. My guess would be that the economy will show a significant dip just because people aren't going out to buy things they don't have to have.
BLITZER: And people are afraid to come to this area. There is a lot of tourists -- tourism is an important part of this economy here, and I'm sure you have a lot of cases of people saying maybe this is not a good time to visit the Washington, D.C. area.
BOHANNON: I've heard that very thing said to me, and people, I think, are gripped by not only the fear of this, but the irrationality of it.
There doesn't seem to be anything that can be explained by this. They understand -- if they don't condone, say holding up a convenience store. There is money there. This defies understanding.
BLITZER: And until they capture this sniper or snipers, there won't be the finality that occurred after 9/11, or even after the anthrax letter attacks which affected this area as well. As a result, it's so random, so open-ended. That simply magnifies the fear.
BOHANNON: It does magnify the fear, and also something else that I've noted: people are grasping for any kind of a pattern that they can find, and we've had a lot of theories put forward, some, I'm sure, with merit, many without, but people really want to understand what's at work here.
BLITZER: And the other point that is so terrifying, children. Children are going to school. There's a lockdown, basically, in all the Washington-area schools, meaning kids can't go outside and play, play in the playgrounds, play soccer, play football, and do the kinds of normal things in the fall that kids would love to do. I don't remember anything like that ever affecting this area.
BOHANNON: No, I don't either. Nothing at all that has ever had this magnitude of effect. Some of it has been a bit of overreacting. There was a case a few days ago of a group of students from Philadelphia who were going to go to Baltimore, which is maybe -- what -- 40 miles from the nearest shooting, and they were going to go indoors to the aquarium there, and they canceled the trip. That is overreacting.
BLITZER: What about all these conspiracy theories? I'm sure your radio phone-in callers are coming up with all sorts of weird ideas, but at the same time, the investigators are saying they can't rule out almost anything right now.
BOHANNON: I don't think they can. We've had, certainly, a lot of calls that al Qaeda could be behind this. I've subscribed to the theory that Osama bin Laden would probably be bragging about another infidel dying if that were the case. But you can't rule it out.
People have suggested the person might be young, they might be middle-aged, they might be former police, they might be former military. They might be kids on kicks. I've heard them all.
BLITZER: You, like me, we work in the news media. But let's take a look, step back for a second. Are we doing a responsible job by this near wall to wall coverage?
BOHANNON: I think we have to. I really do. Let's look at other side of the coin. Let's say that this was happening, and we all got together and said, Gee, if we tell people about this, we are playing into the hands of the killer, and so we cover it up.
Number one, you couldn't keep this under wraps, and number two, all that would happen would be that we would lose our credibility. We are forced to play this to the tune being called by this sniper. It's really beyond our control.
BLITZER: It certainly has dominated the news, we are thinking, at least, with the 5 million people who live in the greater Washington, D.C. area to the point that other important news, whether Iraq, or the economy, the elections that are coming up less than -- what -- three weeks away, nobody seems to be paying much attention to anything else.
BOHANNON: No, they don't, and that is unfortunate, because, obviously, those are things that are very crucial, and for example, on the election, those are things we can do something about. We can vote. We can make our feelings known about the Iraq war.
Ironically, we are focusing on something that the citizenry has no control over whatsoever, but I understand it. Living here, I am gripped by this. I don't take an action outdoors, Wolf, in which I don't think, is this a possible sniper situation?
BLITZER: I think I agree with you. Jim Bohannon, I've been listening to you for years. Thanks for joining us.
BOHANNON: Thank you very much.
BLITZER: One of the best in the business.
Amateur snipers and the schools that teach them under fire. Are there good reasons for civilians to learn long range shooting techniques? Both sides of the debate when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The sniper attacks are renewing debate over the Second Amendment. Some question whether sniper schools glorify or even promote random violence.
Our national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this isolated pocket of northern Arizona, a red flag high on a flag poll means one thing.
It means the guns are out at a firearms training school, where mostly civilian gun owners take classes ranging from advanced tactical pistol training to precision rifle firing, which is what many would also refer to as basic sniper training.
Retired Marine Colonel Bob Young is the V.P. of operations at the 1600 acre Gunsite Academy.
COL. BOB YOUNG (RET.), GUNSITE ACADEMY: At age 60, I'm interested in avoiding all the trouble, but if it comes to it, I will take care of business.
TUCHMAN: Gunsite says all its students have to pass a police background check and get letters of recommendation from reputable individuals.
Why do you need to have knowledge of long range shooting? When would you ever use such a thing?
JACK SHATTUCK: You just never know. You never know. If you practice at a long range, you are more proficient short range.
TUCHMAN: This emergency room physician says he's concerned about crime and also wants to sharpen up on his hunting skills.
YOUNG: What you do is you shoot at ranges up to 600 yards with precision rifles, using bolt action rifles similar to what this gentleman -- similar to what this terrorist probably using now, and you learn how to shoot coyotes and prairie dogs out about 600 yards.
TOM DIAZ, VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: I think the only justifiable school is the school that teaches military or professional law enforcement personnel.
TUCHMAN: Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center says this type of program glorifies the techniques and methods of criminal snipers.
DIAZ: I think it's irresponsible for people who have this knowledge to simply teach it at random to civilians who literally have no business sniping.
YOUNG: I think they are misinformed and I think they have their own political agenda. The information is out there, whether it's taught by my instructors or taught from a CD that they bought. It's not going to make any difference.
TUCHMAN: Col. Young also says one should not infer the Washington sniper necessarily has any training. To try to demonstrate that point, he asks me to shoot a Ruger mini 14 rifle that takes the same type of bullets being used in Washington.
The target is more than 100 yards away and I've never fired a rifle before.
YOUNG: First round hit. Finger straight.
TUCHMAN: It's scary how easy that was.
Gun enthusiasts don't come here to the Arizona high desert on a whim. This course costs $1500 for five days and many come year after year.
Critics wish these gun owners would see what's happening in Washington and think twice about this type of program. But these students stress, it only makes them want to come here even more.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Paulden, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And some of my final thoughts as well as your thoughts on this sniper on the loose, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: As you can imagine, we're getting flooded with e-mails from our viewers not only in the United States, but indeed from around the world.
Many of you have some very, very strongly-felt opinions. I want to read a few of them right now.
Jessica, for example is writing this: "The D.C. sniper is obviously a very angry guy who believes he deserves recognition for his consummate skill for killing with a single shot from a great distance without being spotted. He's making a point of showing the cops how skilled he is, committing his crimes in broad daylight, under their noses, in highly trafficked area. He wanted everyone to know he's smarter than law enforcement. I'll bet he was turned down fro a job on a SWAT team and his anger is stemming from that rejection."
We have another e-mail from Edite who writes this: "Have you forgotten to report that D.C. area residents are not the only ones terrified by the sniper's actions? Those of us with families in the affected area are also filled with a palpable tension that only eases with crying. My family will most likely defer our Christmas trip to D.C. until this monster is caught."
That would be tragic, indeed Edite, if that were to occur. Months from now, this sniper must be found, obviously, very, very soon to avoid that kind of feeling all along.
I have to tell you and our viewers around United States, I've been getting a lot of personal phone calls, e-mails from friends of mine who are also reluctant to come to Washington around this time. They're very concerned about what's going on. That would be unfortunate, if this serial sniper remains at large much longer.
That's unfortunately all the time we have today. Please stay with CNN for continuing coverage, tonight, tomorrow, for all the late breaking developments.
These programming notes: tonight at 8 Eastern, a special report with CONNIE CHUNG, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. on the West Coast.
Also, at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight, "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown will dedicate the entire hour to this very important story. We'll show you how a rifle expert is using what's going on.
Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Montgomery County, Maryland.
"LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE" is up next.
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Military Offers Technology to Aid in Capture of Sniper>
