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| At Least 2 in Custody in Sniper Hunt |
| 2002-10-21 |
| Authorities searching for the sniper terrorizing Virginia and Maryland took a man into custody Monday after surrounding a gray and white van parked next to an outdoor phone. At least one other person also was taken into custody, the White House said. It wasn't clear how the people in custody were connected to the case. I hope the guy wasn't just some schmuck who stopped to call Mom. The coppers had the place surrounded at least 15 minutes before he got there, and they were armed and dangerous... Witnesses saw one man taken out of the van and into custody in the Richmond area. In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said only that more than one person had been arrested in the sniper case. He would not elaborate. Police investigators also declined to comment. WTOP said that a second person in the area had been nabbed while the guy in the van was being arrested — the lookout, who might have gotten a little too close to the action? The developments came as the head of the sniper task force issued a second cryptic statement that authorities trying to communicate with the sharpshooter had received a message and were preparing a response. On Sunday, they had issued a public plea to the person who left a message at the scene of the latest shooting, in Ashland, a town north of Richmond. Just as his statement of last night, Moose's statement this morning, immediately after these guys were arrested, didn't seem to make any sense: "The message that needs to be delivered is that we are going to respond to a message that we have received," Moose said. "We are preparing our response at this time." Since last night's statement was obtuse and it resulted in two guys netted this morning, and this one was even more obtuse, maybe we'll get three or four tomorrow... A swarm of police officers in bulletproof vests converged on the van at an Exxon station along a main thoroughfare as the man sat inside, witnesses said. An officer at the scene in the Richmond suburbs said the van was a Plymouth Voyager with temporary Virginia tags. Saw that on CNN, sitting in a doctor's waiting room. Everybody in the room, with the exception of an ill-behaved 2-year-old, was rivetted — and all of us but the brat were expressing identical sentiments... The nature of the message that investigators say was left at the Ashland shooting scene was unclear. The message contained significant text and was found in woods behind the restaurant, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday, quoting unidentified law enforcement sources. The report also said police have found more than one tarot card during the investigation. Tarot cards would seem to suggest it wasn't Islamists. Multiple participants in the shootings would point to some sort of nutbag organization. The guy working next door to the Exxon station, at a car dealership, said the fellow in the van was maybe Hispanic in appearance. So I'm still in the dark. Maybe Chief Moose will be explaining it all to us in a day or two. I hope so. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #5 I figured a Mexican connection from the video shot of the rear window where there was a Mexican flag sticker. Even so, how come that phone was being staked out? Was it the number Moose was asking the perp to call? What kind of credibility does the Chief have know? "Gee, sorry, didn't know where those guys in black came from, must've been that honkie Sherrif down in Henrico County". |
| Posted by: Jack 2002-10-22 06:40:46 |
| #4 That's a real honkin' extreme case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time... and in the wrong car, too. Still, odds are you're right. |
| Posted by: John Rosevear 2002-10-21 19:22:15 |
| #3 The radio sez it was an illegal Mexican and Guatamalan, probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They're being turned over to INS and Chief Moose sez for the real Bad Guy to call back. That poor man must be dying from frustration... |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-10-21 17:25:41 |
| #2 Sounds like a couple of small-time opportunists (unconnected with the shooter(s)) saw a little blackmail opportunity, no? Moose's cryptic comment this morning could be meant to give the losers the idea that their loot was being assembled. |
| Posted by: John Rosevear 2002-10-21 14:49:21 |
| #1 They were probably waiting for a phone call, maybe to tell them where they were working that day. A lot of them are drywall artists or rough carpenters. They share apartments to live cheap, and often don't have phones. I feel for them. Most of them are honest and very hard-working. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-10-22 08:04:53 |