another sniper shooting....
 

im glad i live in the middle of nowhere sometimes.

scary.


oh and i forgot the link.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,66119,00.html


ASHLAND, Va. — The task force investigating the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks is headed to Ashland, Va., where a man was shot Saturday in the parking lot of a Ponderosa restaurant.

Authorities say the victim, 37, and a female companion were walking to a car behind the restaurant when he was shot in the abdomen. The companion saw nothing, and authorities say they have no other witnesses at this point.

The man is still alive and currently undergoing surgery, according to authorities.

Montgomery County, Md., police Capt. Nancy Demme said the sniper task force was on the way to the scene to determine whether there is any connection to the string of sniper shootings. Ashland is about 70 miles south of Washington, D.C. and 20 miles north of Richmond, Va.

Maryland State Police Sergeant William Vogt says troopers are setting up roadblocks along Interstate 95 in Md., where they're searching for a white 2000 Chevrolet van with Md. plates.

If the shooting turns out to part of the sniping spree, it would be the first time the sniper has struck on a weekend. The attack also would follow the longest break in between shootings as the lull in the spree stretched into a fifth day.

People have telephoned a local radio station, WRLH, and said a white truck was in the area at about the same time the shooting took place.

There have been 11 confirmed sniper shootings -- nine of them fatal -- since Oct. 2.

Meanwhile, investigators continue to examinine a shell casing found in a white box truck to see if it matches casings tied to the shootings.

Ballistic tests are being performed on the casing and the results will be released Monday at the earliest, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said Saturday.

Moose refused to discuss any preliminary findings in the investigation about the truck reported Friday evening by workers at a car rental agency near Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

Moose also declined to discuss other details, including who rented the truck.

"We want to just give our people time to do their work, and that work hasn't been done," he said.

On Friday, the witness who earlier in the week gave investigators false information was charged by Virginia authorities was charged with making a false statement concerning Monday's killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Fairfax County Home Depot store.

Authorities said Matthew Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, Va., falsely described an olive-skinned man and a cream-colored Chevrolet Astro van with a burned-out taillight at the scene of one killing.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail. Dowdy was ordered held without bail pending a hearing Monday.

Northeastern University criminologist James Fox said false witnesses aren't routinely prosecuted. But authorities likely were aggressive with Dowdy because of the damage he caused to their case, he said.

"They are probably trying to make an example of him, almost to punish him for the extent of the frustration that they have," Fox said.

However, Fox said prosecuting Dowdy shouldn't deter other witnesses for coming forward. "If this guy outright lied and did deceive on purpose, then it should not have a chilling effect on other witnesses," he said.

Also on Friday, investigators revisited crime scenes.

Fairfax County officers combed an area across the highway from the Home Depot. Previously, reporters and bystanders had been allowed to tramp all over that area.

"That's not the first time the surrounding area had been checked," said Fairfax County Police Officer Julie Hersey said. "It wasn't a result of us finding that the witness was not credible."

Still, Moose, who is leading the multi-jurisdictional investigation, said crime scene perimeters need to be expanded.

"We needed to make it larger," he said of the Falls Church scene. "We are learning as we go."

Until now, the killer has been seen as a "weekday warrior," Fox said. If the shooting currently being investigated in Ashland, Va., turns out to be linked to the previous shootings, it might be to prove again that the sniper cannot be classified, categorized or profiled.

"It could be that he's just planning his next move," Fox said before the Ashland shooting was reported. "Maybe he feels he needs to do some extra homework."

U.S. investigators are questioning terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba about whether they had any information about the sniper attacks, a law enforcement official confirmed Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official characterized the interviews as an effort to cover all possible investigative avenues, adding that officials do not necessarily believe Al Qaeda might be responsible for or even knowledgeable about the shootings.

Meanwhile, Moose said the investigation into whether a Sept. 14 shooting at a Silver Spring beer and wine store is connected is continuing.

Police responded to numerous false alarms, including a report of two camouflage-clad men in a white van Friday who turned out to be bowhunters. A report of a shattered window at an office building turned out to be "hot/cold dynamics," Moose said.

More than 1,000 federal, state and local law enforcements agents are working on the case, according to Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

Two shooting victims were scheduled to be buried Saturday.

Dean H. Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, who was killed Oct. 9 at a Prince William County gas station, will be laid to rest in Pottstown, Pa. Pascal Charlot, 72, gunned down Oct. 3 while standing on a Washington street corner, will be buried in Washington.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

huh? where? when? WE NEED FACTS

news brief
 

90 miles south in Washington, D.C..... Ashland, VA

a 37 year old man was shot in a restaurant parking lot and is currently in surgery.

however, they're not sure if this is related to the sniper shootings, but they're treating it as such.

A vehicle similar to the white van w/ladder on back seen at previous sniper shooting areas was spotted around the time the man was shot, about 8:46 pm tonight.

Is it me, or would Mr Sniper have probably ditched the van that EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY is probably looking for by now?

The victim is not dead.

ahsland is too far south 4 me to handle. that's practically where i am right now. UGH. i ams o fucking worried about my parents. ughhh.

you are right.....im a dork.

guys, this one's a little too smart for my liking...I think he may be the sniper

What I want to know is how he gets away every time. People always see this white van / truck fleeing but he always gets away like he's Batman or some shit. WTF?

where the fuck does he drive? It's not like he's popping up all around the country. It's fucking 90 miles outside of D.C.

I swear to God, the 'Where's Waldo' generation would have caught this mofo by now!

No, I'm OJ

where have you been? They didn't say you could go to Cancun. They said 'you're going to the can, coon!"

Re: another sniper shooting....
 

actually
ashland is basically the middle of nowhere. it happens to just have 95 running through it.
it's just a rural area. in another direction it would be insignificant.

...and it's 15 minutes from my house.

there's a theory going around that the white van is actually a decoy. who knows. of course that person was just arrested for caliming to see a white van when he really didn't. either he was just talking shit to get attention or he's an accomplice. who knows.

Re: Re: another sniper shooting....
 

hmmmm, thats true....but if its 15 minutes from richmond, thats not too rural.....if i ever get a hankering for a meal at chilis im driving 9 hrs....thats how far away i am.

Re: Re: another sniper shooting....
 

i think virginia is the most representin netphoria state

I'd say almost certainly he's going to keep shooting until he gets apprehended. All the while he will keep expanding the geographic area where he is shooting a little each time. In the process striking more fear in more people.

He's not going to stop. Unless he's smart like the Zodiac Killer and just realizes that the only way to stay a free man is to just quit. He probably realizes that already but can't stop. He's an addict.

fucking crazy

I say he's a terrorist. Sort of the 'kill all americans where they lie' attitude.

No, he is a serial killer and a sick fuck.

I am sorry but like I've said before I am sick of the media and everyone using the world terrorist or terrorism to describe everything.

i dunno. i figure regardless of his intentions or motives he's a terrorist if he's terrorizing people to the point where htey're scared to go about their everyday lives (pump gas, go to office depot)

however i guess you could say that for any serial killer except..i dunno. serial killers tend to target a certain demographic of people or have a certain location of finding their victims. this sniper is absolutely random (as far as i can tell) in his choosing of victims and, to a certain extent, locations. eh. i think that's why he could be considered more of a terrorist.

This guy is so intriguing. As a fine man said, "He's gotta be respected on a rudimentary level for goal-setting and organization."

I don't think he's a "terrorist" per say, because Islamic terrorist seem more into killing a lot of people at once, not one at a time over a long period of time. Plus, they like to be seen and their purpose known. This dude is just knocking people off for the hell of it. Which is even scarier.

But still, this is one of the strangest/most ironic serial killers in U.S. history.

He won't be caught for a while, if he keeps doing a good job at being elusive and doesn't get cocky.

so true.

and its next to impossible for the cops to catch him. how do u catch someone you know nothing about? if you think hes still riding around in that white van your outta your mind. the only thing the cops know is that its a 22 cal. bullet he's shooting. that's it. and if you think about it, it's easy for him to get away. say he shoots someone from 50 yards away, thats half a football feild. so, he shoots and as soon as he does he's walkin away. meanwhile where the person got shot there's nothing but panic and while everyone is freakin' tryin to help the person bleeding to death on the ground this guy is walkin away without a trace.

Well before 9/11 terrorists were roughly designed as people seeking to scare people by killing as many people at once which is why bombings have always been associated with terrorists. Also Terrorists usually have delusional causes which they make known.

This sniper has no causes, these are all senseless deaths with no purpose. I am sure in his fucked up mind he has his own reasoning but whatever his reasons are he is not doing it because he wants to get his cause or message out.

This guy is just a serial killer, maybe the most intelligent one ever because of the level of planning involved.

I just hope they can catch him soon, no matter how smart you are you will eventually slip up somehow.

The thought just occured to me, maybe during all the confusion he just joins in with the crowd as everyone gathers around to the area to see whats going on and then just kills time until everything dies down again then goes home.

First off I agree with you about being sick of everything being labeled as a terrorist. I do think he could be a terrorist because the way he is spreading fear through the DC area. It seems to me like a serial killer would be more secretive, not doing the shit in public. The way he does it it seems like he's not affraid of getting caught and dying (for islam). But yeah, who knows

Well he definately has the "god" complex thing going on there, I guess in his mind he doesn't believe he will be caught and by never being seen he probably thinks he is being secretive.

*shrugs*

He will get caught eventually it's just a quetion of when he will slip up enough for the cops to caught him. Hopefully the sooner the better but I have a feeling unfortunately there may be several more before they get him.

i have. i don't know. i don't know if we should jump to conclusions about what his causes are y et, because it just strikes me that his causes do seem mor eor less political, just with the location of the shootings and how they'r ehappening. as i said before, it's terrorism because he's making people scared shitless of going along with everyday life. he' sprobably shooting in the dc/metro area just cuz he has a job there but hm ashland va? and i don't think he's acting alone. the white van (even if it is just a decoy) sort of proves this. andi don't know. it strikes me that his motive is political or at least..i don't know. anti-social or something just from the apparent . you know. everyday american life.

couldn't god be allah, like he's doing it for god. Like he is the messenger of god to kill americans. dunno, maybe that's streching it.