D.C. Sniper Still at Large; N.C. Officials Placed on Lookout

Not much information on the sniper is available to the public

Staff & Wire Reports

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Investigators hunting an increasingly brazen sniper defended their meager release of information, saying Sunday that they don't want the killer to know what they know.

Authorities pointed to the dangerous balance between pleading for public help and revealing too much.

"We don't want to release anything that may cause ... anyone to think they're a suspect," said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Mike Bouchard.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose has cut back on his news briefings while saying he wishes there was more he could reveal. "I wish we could give you a name, a mug shot and an address, but we're not at that point," he said in one of four appearances he made Sunday on national TV talk shows.

Moose has become the public face of a massive task force investigating a random shooter who has fired a single round into each of 10 victims, killing eight, in suburban Washington, D.C., since Oct. 2.

The last killing occurred Friday morning, when a 53-year-old father of six was shot while fueling his sedan in a gas station just south of Fredericksburg, Va. At the time, a state trooper stood just 50 yards away, investigating a traffic accident.

Also Sunday, calls continued to flood tipster hot lines with information about white box trucks and a second white vehicle, a Chevrolet Astro van, seen at two or more of the killing sites.

And authorities began describing the serial sniper as not just a local threat but as an attempt to terrorize an already anxious nation.

"This reminds us that people in our past have tried to intimidate and put fear into Americans," Moose said. "This is a strong nation ... and we will not be intimidated."

Officers even have begun asking policemen in other states for cooperation.

The N.C. State Highway Patrol has been told to be on the lookout and to be particularly aware of white vehicles fitting the description of the suspect's, said Sgt. R.E. Clendenin.

But Clendenin said that the request is not out of the ordinary and that the patrol is operating under normal parameters.

"This is not specific to North Carolina," he said. "We're not doing anything other than business as usual.

"We're not in a heightened alert."

But in Landover, Md., police on horseback and bicycles ringed parking areas before Sunday's Washington Redskins pro football game against the New Orleans Saints. Fans grilling burgers at tailgate parties said they welcomed the rifle-toting officers.

"I don't think anybody in their right mind would try something out here," said fan Bill Freitag of Virginia Beach, Va. "But he's not in his right mind to begin with."

Some officials believe the killer might be a former military or police sniper gone mad, Newsweek reported this week. The FBI has asked the Defense Department to search its records from the sniper school at Fort Bragg for rejected applicants or former students with psychological problems, the magazine reported.

With no known shootings since Friday morning, people have been questioning Moose about whether he is worried about Monday. One week ago, the killer apparently took the weekend off, only to strike again Oct. 7.

"We won't make any assumptions about any kind of pattern," Moose said. "I never approach Monday morning with a sense of dread."