By Jonathan Drew, The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Firing at cars on busy interstates during the day, the serial highway shooter is becoming bolder while evading capture in the three months since investigators first established a pattern, experts said.
“He’s sending a message to police: ‘You’re not as close as you think you are. I can shoot in broad daylight, and you still won’t find me,”’ said Jack Levin, a criminologist and director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University.
The day after the chief investigator said authorities were closing in on the shooter, a man stood in plain view on an overpass and fired a handgun at cars below. He then walked to his car and slipped into traffic.
Ballistics testing confirmed the Saturday morning shooting was the 24th in a series in the Columbus area, investigators said Sunday. No one was injured in that shooting.
The bullet recovered from the battery of a sport utility vehicle struck on Interstate 70 matches eight others recovered during the investigation, including the one that killed a woman in November, investigators said. The others have been linked by factors including location and circumstances.
On Friday, Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin said he felt confident in the investigation’s progress.
“We feel that we’re getting closer all the time,” Martin said. “We are doing exactly what we need to do.”
The next day, the shooter escaped despite police aircraft dispatched within moments of the victim’s cell phone call. The shooter even appeared “casual” and indifferent to witnesses, Martin said.
Witnesses said a man stood on a county road over the freeway and fired a handgun at a Chevy Suburban. They described him as a clean-shaven white male in his 30s with dark hair, wearing a hat and sunglasses and driving a small black sedan.
Joe Joan said he saw the man and heard the shot while driving his wife and three young children to a flea market. The Suburban was behind their car. After pulling over, he said he watched the gunman get in his car and slowly drive away.
“He looked like he didn’t care about anyone,” Joan said Sunday. “He wasn’t in a hurry. He didn’t speed up or nothing. He just got in and took off real slow.”
Levin said his studies of criminals, including the Washington, D.C., sniper case, indicate reckless behavior can make serial shooters feel more powerful and important.
“It enhances the cat and mouse game he plays with law enforcement,” Levin said. “Psychologically, he gains with these risks.”
The serial shootings began in May, though most have occurred since mid-October.
Until last month, the gunfire at vehicles and buildings was scattered along or near Interstate 270, a busy highway that circles Columbus. The previous four shootings, including two Feb. 8, had moved progressively farther southwest on Interstate 71. Saturday’s shooting was the farthest east the shooter has struck.
The shooter is starting to get careless, perhaps on purpose, said W. Scott Thornsley, criminal justice professor at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania.
“If he gets away with it, it’s more thrilling to him,” he said. “If he doesn’t get a way with it, it puts an end to what he may be going through.”