scoone
02-10-2004, 06:21 AM
Tue February 10, 2004 03:36 AM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio (*******) - The string of random, sniper-style attacks against targets, many of them motorists, in around the Ohio capital of Columbus reached 23 on Monday, and police said the shooter's territory had expanded.
"It's obvious our target area has increased," Franklin County, Ohio, Chief Deputy Sheriff Steve Martin said.
Two vehicles were struck by bullets a few minutes apart on Sunday -- one close to the windshield -- by a gunman firing from highway overpasses at vehicles about 30 miles southwest of most of the previous shootings.
The Ohio shootings that began in May 2003 recalled the three-week shooting spree in the fall of 2002 that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area. John Muhammad and Lee Malvo were convicted of the random shootings, with Muhammad sentenced to death and Malvo given a life sentence.
No motive or pattern other than geography has been established in the string of Ohio shootings, one of which killed a 62-year-old woman riding in a car near Columbus in November.
Other bullets have struck moving and parked vehicles, homes and a school, without injuring anyone.
For the first time, police had a vague description from two witnesses of the shooter: a white man, in his 30s or 40s, driving a black car.
Martin said investigators had received 100 fresh tips since the description was released but could not say if a task force made up of local police and federal authorities were closer to apprehending the shooter.
Eight of the 23 shootings since May 2003 have been linked by ballistics tests. Martin said the latest shootings were linked by other physical evidence he would not specify.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (*******) - The string of random, sniper-style attacks against targets, many of them motorists, in around the Ohio capital of Columbus reached 23 on Monday, and police said the shooter's territory had expanded.
"It's obvious our target area has increased," Franklin County, Ohio, Chief Deputy Sheriff Steve Martin said.
Two vehicles were struck by bullets a few minutes apart on Sunday -- one close to the windshield -- by a gunman firing from highway overpasses at vehicles about 30 miles southwest of most of the previous shootings.
The Ohio shootings that began in May 2003 recalled the three-week shooting spree in the fall of 2002 that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area. John Muhammad and Lee Malvo were convicted of the random shootings, with Muhammad sentenced to death and Malvo given a life sentence.
No motive or pattern other than geography has been established in the string of Ohio shootings, one of which killed a 62-year-old woman riding in a car near Columbus in November.
Other bullets have struck moving and parked vehicles, homes and a school, without injuring anyone.
For the first time, police had a vague description from two witnesses of the shooter: a white man, in his 30s or 40s, driving a black car.
Martin said investigators had received 100 fresh tips since the description was released but could not say if a task force made up of local police and federal authorities were closer to apprehending the shooter.
Eight of the 23 shootings since May 2003 have been linked by ballistics tests. Martin said the latest shootings were linked by other physical evidence he would not specify.