by The Associated Press and The Washington Post
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Investigators hunting an increasingly brazen sniper defended their meager release of information, saying yesterday they don’t want the killer to know what they know.
Authorities pointed to the dangerous balance between pleading for public help and revealing too much.
“We don’t want to release anything that may cause ... anyone to think they’re a suspect,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Mike Bouchard.
As the manhunt continued, a weekend without a new attack brought a mixture of relief and dread to people who went about normal activities with foreboding yesterday, wondering whether the bloodshed will resume.
Even as they shopped, took their children to pumpkin patches and attended football games, thoughts of the elusive sniper remained in the forefront of people’s minds.
“People are very anxious about what the coming week may bring,” said Sean Connaughton, chairman of the Board of County Supervisors in Prince William County. “They don’t really know what to expect. While in general they’re very confident that at some point the individual or individuals will be apprehended, the issue is how much more damage is he going to cause.”
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, meanwhile, has cut back on his news briefings while saying he wishes there was more he could reveal.
“I wish we could give you a name, a mug shot and an address, but we’re not at that point,” he said in one of four appearances he made yesterday on national TV talk shows.
Moose has become the public face of a massive task force investigating a random shooter who has fired a single round into each of 10 victims, killing eight, in suburban Washington since Oct. 2.
The last killing occurred Friday morning, when a 53-year-old father of six was shot while fueling his sedan in a gas station just south of Fredericksburg, Va. At the time, a state trooper stood just 50 yards away investigating a traffic accident.
Yesterday, a tip hotline set up by authorities was flooded with calls after police released composite images of a white box truck that witnesses reported seeing near more than one of four fatal shooting scenes in Montgomery County, Md., on Oct. 3. Authorities said they think the truck had damage to its rear and had dull, oxidized paint, suggesting an older vehicle.
Moose also said authorities are preparing composite images of a different vehicle, a white Chevrolet Astro van, that some witnesses reported seeing Friday morning near a Spotsylvania County, Va., gas station, where the sniper’s most recent victim was fatally shot.
At the Pentagon City mall in Arlington, Va., two women carrying their purchases walked together and shared what they called their “getting-gas stories.” Of the sniper’s 10 victims, four were killed at gas stations.
“For me, I was nervous,” said Rachel Slemons, 34, of Arlington. “I was looking around at the rooftops, and lo and behold, a white van pulled up in the gas station. It’s definitely nerve-racking.”
At Lake Forest Mall in Gaithersburg, Md., many shoppers said they were steeling themselves for the week to come.
“I think lots of people are worried about next week,” said Dave Holch, 53. “It’s been a rough 10 days - for children, everybody in the region. With it being so quiet this weekend, who knows what these days ahead are going to bring?”
At Landover, Md., police on horseback and bicycles ringed parking areas before yesterday’s football game between the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints.
“I don’t think anybody in their right mind would try something out here,” said fan Bill Freitag, of Virginia Beach, Va. “But he’s not in his right mind to begin with.”
The sniper’s victims were shot as they carried out daily errands, including mowing grass, shopping and pumping gas.
County, state and federal investigators won’t say if they know much about the killer, whose only apparent communication to police was a Tarot card left at one shooting scene with the words, “Dear Policeman, I am God.”
Moose refused to comment on reports that the FBI has asked the Pentagon to search its records for recently discharged GIs who had gone through sniper school. FBI spokesman Mike Saltz declined to comment on any investigative leads.
Investigators also would not discuss reports that a scrap of paper found at the site of the latest killing contained scribbled directions from northern Maryland to the Capital Beltway.
With no known shootings since Friday morning, a reporter asked Moose if he was worried about today. One week ago, the killer apparently took the weekend off, only to strike again Oct. 7.
“We won’t make any assumptions about any kind of pattern,” Moose said. “I never approach Monday morning with a sense of dread.”