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A mixture of fear and defiance after Maryland killings
ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- As people expressed feelings of fear, shock and suspicion days after a suspected sniper shot and killed six people, Montgomery County, Maryland, officials urged residents to go about their regular business Saturday, enjoy the weekend and not to panic. "People should get out and enjoy this beautiful weather today," said county executive Doug Duncan. Police urged calm. "The most important thing is, don't panic," said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose. Despite that, residents continued to express fear. A gas station where 54-year-old taxi driver Prenkumar Walekar was gunned down Thursday morning has reopened, and although the rush hour traffic is normal on the main roads, the residential side streets are empty. The people of the Washington, D.C., suburb said they were in shock. On Friday, Jorge Cruz said he considered keeping his 10-year-old son out of school. "Usually he walks to the bus but today I walked with him," Cruz said Local schools spent Thursday and Friday under a "code blue" -- not letting children outside during the day. Attendance at Montgomery County schools "was pretty close to normal" Friday and Duncan said after-school activities, such as football games and cross-country meets, would proceed as planned. Police say Montgomery County is normally safe area -- 15 to 20 murders a year. Residents, however, are worried not only by the sudden spree of killings but also because they appeared to be random. At a busy shopping center less than a mile away, where 34-year-old Sarah Ramos was shot in the head and killed, customers were nervous Friday. Mary Lynne Arthur said she will not live in fear, hoping the killer will soon be caught. "It's a shame that you feel you have to run to your car to keep from being shot at," she said. "We can either live in fear or we can choose not to live in fear." That mixture of fear and defiance was common among residents of the suburban county where the shootings occurred. Across Montgomery County, people did what they usually do on a Friday, but they moved slowly and quietly, glancing at trees, bushes and rooftops. Many said they were afraid but wouldn't stop getting groceries, going to work or leaving their children with a baby sitter. "I had to shop. I need to eat. I can't stay at home all day," Kira Leonova, who works at a bookstore near one of the slaying scenes, told The Associated Press. "I have to work and I have a family," she said. Dexter Evans, 20, scanned the traffic as he waited for a bus to Rockville, and he took a second look at every white truck because police are looking for a white truck that may have played a role in the shootings. "You can't even walk down the street without looking over your shoulder," he told the AP. "People are on edge," Moose said. "We're all human. We're all afraid." Friday afternoon, a 43-year-old woman, who had been loading purchases into her minivan from Michaels craft store in Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 50 miles south of Washington, was shot and wounded. She is in stable condition in a Fairfax hospital. About 100 yards from the van, authorities found a shell to a .223-caliber weapon, the same caliber used in other shootings. "We're looking to see if there are bullets, fragments, other things that may tell us if there's any connection between that shooting, shootings here in Montgomery County and the shooting in Washington," Moose said. The chief link in the incidents is the fact that a .223-caliber bullet was used in each, a source close to the investigation told CNN. Moose also said geography profilers had been investigating the crime scenes since late Friday afternoon trying to establish a pattern to the attacks. "They are working, they are working very hard," he said, adding that he did not know if the Virginia shooting would make the profilers' task more difficult.
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