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Sniper hunt: Truck image yields tips
ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- Police said Sunday that the release of a composite image of a truck reported seen in the vicinity of one of the Washington-area sniper shootings has resulted in several tips to investigators. "The graphic is generating a lot of information, a lot of calls," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said. The graphic of a white, box-type truck with damage to the rear bumper was released to the news media and posted Saturday on Web sites run by the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Authorities also said the truck emitted a loud noise consistent with an older vehicle. Police continued to urge people who believe they may have useful information to call a hotline staffed by FBI personnel at 888-324-9800. "We would like to talk to any number of different people that may somehow be associated with this vehicle," Moose said. A witness reported seeing the truck that appeared to contain two people speed from a parking lot in Silver Spring, Maryland, October 3, moments after a 34-year-old woman was shot and killed nearby. Authorities are preparing another composite -- this one of a white Chevrolet Astro minivan -- reported seen near Friday's shooting at a gas station in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Moose couldn't say when that graphic would be released. "We're working with a sense of urgency, but we are dealing with witnesses," he said. In addition, authorities are searching for an older-model, burgundy Chevrolet Caprice seen leaving the scene of an October 3 shooting in northwest Washington, Moose told CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer." Investigators asked the U.S. Army and Navy to check their records for any current or recently discharged sniper-trained military personnel who were in the Washington metropolitan area, CNN has learned. The request, which went to the military's law enforcement units -- the Army's Criminal Investigative Division and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service -- also included a search for any military personnel in the area who had not shown up to work or had behaved strangely since the sniper attacks began, or who had been discharged under suspicious circumstances. According to a senior Army official, the searches did not yield any names. Pentagon sources say there are currently no military-related suspects in the sniper case. Calm weekendAs was the case last weekend, the sniper did not strike Saturday or Sunday. Last weekend's calm ended abruptly Monday morning when a 13-year-old boy was shot and critically wounded outside a middle school in Bowie, Maryland. He was in critical but stable condition in a Washington hospital. Moose said he was not approaching Monday with a sense of dread. "It is a blessing each day that I wake up," he said. After 12 days, 11 shots and 10 casualties -- eight of them fatal -- a few possible details about the killer have emerged. A Tarot death card found at the site of Monday's shooting appeared to taunt the sniper's pursuers. It bore the handwritten phrase, "Dear Policeman, I am God." Friday's shooting was carried out within sight of a policeman. Moose offered no indication that authorities were close to halting the sniper, who appears to have chosen his victims at random. "We're working as hard as we can," he said. "People are continuing to give us information; we're following up those leads. We want people to keep the faith and remember this is certainly not the first person or group of people who tried to change us or change the nation. So please continue to be resilient." FBI Special Agent Gary Bald said authorities have obtained witness accounts "from many of the locations." Moose, who has held a blizzard of news conferences since the killings began, said the next one will be held at noon Monday unless new details emerge before that time. "We all have work that needs to be done and don't want in any fashion to move into any arena that could be seen as entertainment," he said. "If we don't, we won't waste your time, and we won't waste our time." Moose also reiterated his plea to the news media not to disrupt the work of investigators by attempting to follow them as they work. "If you are engaged in that type of activity, please stop, and if you are thinking that is one way for you to get the competitive edge, then please reconsider that," he said. Montgomery official: 'Go about your normal routine'Despite the weekend's calm, the region has been shaken. A number of outdoor events were called off, and several schools canceled SAT tests. With four of the shooting deaths occurring at gas stations, motorists were looking over their shoulders as they filled their tanks. And some were either going elsewhere to gas up or weren't filling up at all. One Waldorf, Maryland, Amoco dealer told Trilby Lundberg, publisher of a biweekly survey of gas prices nationwide, that his sales were down about 25 percent last Friday after the shooting near Fredericksburg, about 40 miles away. But Paul Fiore, president of the Washington-Maryland-Delaware Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, said he has heard no reports of a drop in sales from his 800 member stations and has seen no impact at his Shell station in Bowie, about 10 miles from Monday's school shooting. Fiore said he was reluctant to discuss measures that could be taken to reduce risk. "No matter what you do or say with this particular shooter can be construed as a challenge," he said. Though some authorities urged residents not to allow fear to affect their routines, Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan acknowledged that some people feel differently. "People need to make decisions for themselves, for their families, for the groups they're associated with," Duncan said. "We're asking people, as best they can, go about your normal routine: Make sure you go to work, make sure you send your kids to school." Meanwhile, authorities are investigating whether a September 14 shooting at a Montgomery County liquor store may have been the work of the same sniper, said the ATF's Michael Bouchard. "We've looked at some of the ballistics evidence from that shooting," Bouchard said. "It's inconclusive right now." Asked whether the sniper is a trained marksman, Bouchard said, "Obviously, the person is a good shot." The rounds found at the scenes of the shootings -- .223-caliber bullets and casings -- could have been fired by more than 30 types of guns, he said. "It's a very common type of ammunition," he said.
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