Single shot downs shopper in Virginia parking lot

FALLS CHURCH - A woman was shot and killed yesterday as she and her husband were loading packages at a shopping mall near Washington and police were investigating whether the death was linked to a sniper who has killed eight people and wounded two others.

Authorities saturated the area in search of the shooter after the woman was shot in the head around 9.15 pm (1.15pm NZT) outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia, about 11km west of Washington. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Some employees working in the shopping centre reported hearing a single shot. One-bullet attacks have been a hallmark of the sniper.

"I know the question in everyone's mind is: 'Is this shooting related to the others that we've had in the area'?" Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger told a news conference. "It's too early to tell at this point. However, we are working it and investigating it with that potential in mind."

Major roads were shut down as dozens of federal, state and local authorities converged on the scene, rapidly establishing a dragnet in hopes of capturing the elusive gunman who has been traumatising the Washington area for nearly two weeks.

Ellen Qualls, a spokeswoman for Virginia Governor Mark Warner, said the victim "and her husband were loading items into the trunk of the car when the shooting occurred and he may have eyewitness information that is helpful to the investigation".

Police said they were looking for a cream-coloured van seen leaving the crime scene. Manger said the vehicle had a silver ladder rack on the top and a rear tail-light out.

He also said the mall had a number of exits, making it difficult for authorities to know which way the gunman fled.

"We are still interviewing witnesses" and searching the scene for evidence, Manger said. He said authorities would await ballistic tests before linking the shooting to the previous cases.

The sniper, who uses a high-velocity rifle to pick off random victims from long range, has eluded authorities despite a massive law enforcement effort, including the FBI.

Earlier yesterday (Monday local time), after a second weekend without any sniper killings he was being dubbed a Monday-to-Friday killer.

"He's a weekday warrior. Even snipers have jobs," said criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University in Boston. "They have to make time to kill, and obviously he doesn't have time on the weekends.

"Everything that helps a little helps a lot in terms of finding someone." Other criminologists have suggested the shooter lives in the area and may have a job and work schedule that accounts for the timing and location of the attacks.

Physical evidence has been scant, with one taunting clue apparently left by the methodical shooter near where a 13-year-old victim was shot: A Tarot "Death" card with the words "Dear Mister Policeman, I am God" scrawled on the back.

The last fatality linked to the sniper who has terrorised Washington DC and its normally tranquil and affluent suburbs in neighbouring Maryland and Virginia was on Friday local time, at a petrol station in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

The victims have been linked by ballistics experts.

The first five sniper killings took place in a 15-hour period over October 2 and October 3, in Maryland's Montgomery County. Another victim was killed in Washington and two others in the southern suburbs of Virginia.

The sniper injured two people: the 13-year-old schoolboy in Bowie, Maryland, northeast of Washington, and a woman in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to the south.

Most shootings were near busy highways, while victims were performing ordinary activities: mowing a lawn, pumping petrol, entering a school, cleaning a car.

Yesterday morning the lull in the sniper's killing spree brought little relief as jittery residents flooded police with calls upon hearing cars backfire, firecrackers or breaking glass.

"Everyone is edgy," said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation. "People are hearing things that may normally be overlooked."

President George W. Bush said the "cold-blooded" attacks have made him sick to his stomach. "I weep for those who have lost their loved ones," he said. "The idea of moms taking their kids to school and sheltering them from a potential sniper attack is not the America that I know."

Four police squad cars rushed to a Silver Spring car dealership yesterday after the window of a customer's BMW shattered when he closed the door. The man called police, thinking a bullet broke the glass.

"He had no idea what happened - he was just freaked out," said David Earhardt, the dealership's service manager.

"People hear a noise, they're going to call - they want to put an end to this just like we do," said Prince William County, Virginia, Detective Dennis Mangan, whose department brought in a helicopter to search the woods before determining a reported gunshot was just a car backfiring.

Montgomery County executive Douglas Duncan said county citizens had only one goal in this case: "Their message is catch him. Catch him as fast as you can, catch him, catch him ... We will not be at peace until we catch who's doing this."

A reward for information leading to the sniper's capture has reached $US500,000 ($1.05 million).

- REUTERS

Further reading:
The Washington sniper

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