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Patty Davis: Tipster had the key
(CNN) -- At least two men are in custody early Thursday morning as suspects in the Washington-area snipers shootings that have killed 10 people and wounded three. The men were found sleeping inside a car at an interstate highway rest stop in Maryland. CNN has confirmed that the men are John Allen Muhammad and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, the subject of a nationwide search that began yesterday. Muhammad had been sought as a witness in this case. CNN anchor Catherine Callaway talked with CNN correspondent Patty Davis, who is reporting the story from Rockville, Maryland, in Montgomery County, where many of the shootings took place. DAVIS: Those individuals (the suspects) are being questioned somewhere here in Montgomery County. We are not being told where. It's not here though, that's for sure, because we would have seen a lot of activity if that was the case. You know, one thing I think that this really shows, you were talking about the fact that the tip came from a motorist, an attendant there at that rest stop north of Washington, D.C. in Maryland in that Myersville exit, north of where these shootings have taken place. It shows what (Montgomery County) Police Chief Charles Moose has been saying all along: That they believe that this case was going to be solved with the help of citizens. And indeed, just a little over an hour after Chief Moose broadcast that warrant for the arrest of John Allen Muhammad, also known as John Allen Williams, 41 years old; also looking for a juvenile believed to be with him, which we are told is John Lee Malvo, 17 years old. A little over an hour, someone ended up calling police and saying, we saw this 1990 blue Chevy Caprice with that license plate, the New Jersey license plate that you're looking for, and police were able to move in. They established a perimeter, called the sniper task force, and the sniper task force, a couple of hours later then, arrested these two men sleeping in their car. So, the importance here of citizens, if indeed these two do turn out to be the snipers in this case. We do expect to have a press conference, Catherine, here in Montgomery County at the sniper task force headquarters at some point today. Now, we talked to police a little while ago, the public information people, who said it's going to be awhile. They still need to get a search warrant. They're in the process of doing that from a judge to be able to look at that 1990 Chevy Caprice, find out what's inside. They're very carefully guarding that car at this time. But they don't want to make any mistakes here. If this turns out these people are connected to this case, they want to go by the book, because they will want to have an airtight prosecution if indeed these people turn out to be connected. CALLAWAY: Amazing that this tipster, this motorist who called 911 to say that he spotted this vehicle, not only alerted police, but stayed at the rest stop, we are told, along with the state troopers, and waited for authorities to converge on the scene. A lot of questions we're going to have about that individual, and a very alert individual, making that phone call to police. DAVIS: Absolutely. And in the press conference with the Maryland State Police, you heard a reporter asking, "Will that person get the reward money?" You know, that reward money is over $500,000 right now. And Greg Shipley, the police officer doing that press conference, said he doesn't know. CALLAWAY: Yes, it would be good for that person. ... But some disappointing news that during that news conference that a weapon had not been found. Of course, we do know that they're waiting for daylight and the warrant to search that vehicle, and I'm assuming will also search the area there around that rest stop. DAVIS: Right. We don't know what those two individuals, these two men, were doing at the rest stop. We know they were sleeping. Where were they going? Why were they there at that point? So, that's something police will want to know. You're right, absolutely. They'll want to know what's in that car. Are there any weapons in that car? Is there anything that could possibly connect them to this case? Or is there information that these two men might know in connection with who might be doing these killings? Thirteen people were shot so far, 10 of them dead, the latest just 48 hours ago here, back here in Montgomery County in the Aspen Hill section of Maryland, not far from where the first shootings took place. Obviously, that was a real blow for Chief Charles Moose, and the people in this community, who figured that the police presence was so heavy here now -- helicopters you hear flying over at all hours of the day and night, the Pentagon up in the air with its reconnaissance planes looking, searching for any evidence of guns being fired -- and the thought had been perhaps that this killer or killers had moved on. Yet, this killing took place 48 hours ago at a bus stop, a bus driver slain, Conrad Johnson, 35 years old. Certainly, disheartening to police that this sniper was back, and they're certainly hoping that they may have a major break here.
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