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Gunfire near tacoma Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-10-23-takoma-usat_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-10-23-takoma-usat_x.htm
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20021024/ts_usatoday/4561481
Neighbors recall gunfire near Tacoma home
By Patrick McMahon USA TODAY
TACOMA, Wash. — When federal agents swarmed the yard of a home in a working-class neighborhood Wednesday night looking for clues in the serial sniper case, it jogged Chris Waters' memory.
Waters, 23, an Army private who lives across the street from the property that was searched here, recalled hearing gunshots "from a high-powered rifle" in his neighborhood for several days earlier this year.
"I fire an array of weapons in the military," said Waters, who is based at Fort Lewis. "It was semi-automatic fire. I can't tell you where it came from."
The gunfire crackled in January, said Waters, who was dressed in fatigues. "It went on for almost a month. Every night or every other night. It was high-powered rifle gunshots."
Waters said he called police, but investigators told him they found nothing.
Oscar Reynolds, 40, said he also recalled hearing shots.
"I'm ex-Marine, so I know rifle shots," said Reynolds, a member of the Washington National Guard. "But leading up to this day, I never thought about it."
Their recollections came after law enforcement officers combed the yard looking for bullets, shell casings or other evidence that might be linked to the serial sniper case 2,300 miles away in the Washington, D.C., area.
Investigators brought in equipment to remove a tree stump, another large object and other materials from the yard. The items were loaded onto a truck for examination.
Although officials at the scene wouldn't confirm a connection to the sniper killings, a senior law enforcement source said the search was the result of a strong lead in the case.
"We are conducting a search," FBI spokeswoman Melissa Mallon said. She said the property owner agreed to the search, but she declined to say why officials were there. Technicians set up an elaborate grid pattern and combed the backyard with metal detectors. They used small flags to mark locations where they recorded soundings for metal in the grass and dirt.
Neighbors described the owner of the duplex as a friendly man who has been home in recent weeks. They said he has lived there for eight years.
Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, a spokesman at the Fort Lewis Army post near Tacoma, said his office was notified Wednesday afternoon that the FBI had asked for help.
In the Washington, D.C., area, authorities said late Wednesday that they were searching for two men "of high interest" in the investigation. Also being sought: a blue and burgundy 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey license plates.
Earlier, more details emerged about the ongoing communication between the sniper and police.
A letter that investigators found Tuesday near the scene of the sniper's latest attack renewed the killer's request for millions of dollars, ridiculed police and threatened more violence unless the money was delivered to an account by wire transfer, law enforcement sources said.
The letter, along with a shell casing, was found in a plastic bag that was tacked to a tree in a wooded area in Silver Spring, Md., near where a 35-year-old bus driver was killed before dawn Tuesday. It is at least the fourth written message said to be from the sniper, who has killed 10 people and wounded three others since Oct. 2.
The letter, law enforcement sources said, sparked Tuesday night's flurry of cryptic public appeals from police to the elusive sniper. Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief Charles Moose, whose county includes Silver Spring, said it was not "electronically" possible to meet the killer's demands.
Law enforcement sources said the new letter was similar to a hostile, three-page note found Saturday in Ashland, Va., about 85 miles south of Washington, near where the sniper wounded a 37-year-old man. The Ashland note, sources said, also was in a plastic bag with a shell casing and was found tacked to a tree.
The Ashland note, sources said Wednesday, warned that police would need "body bags" unless about $10 million was wired to a credit card account number included in the letter. Investigators have determined that the account number contained in the letter is linked to a bank-issued Visa card that was reported stolen within the past six months.
The Silver Spring letter demanded that a person — presumably the sniper — be allowed to make "unlimited withdrawals" from the account.
Moose declined to comment Wednesday on any police communication with the sniper.
Besides the letters, law enforcement sources said, police have found at least two tarot cards near the scenes of sniper attacks. The first card was found near a school in Bowie, Md., on Oct. 7, near where a 13-year-old boy was wounded by the sniper. The card contained three messages: "Dear Policeman, I am God," "Do not share this with the media," and a third message that sources would not describe.
The third message was repeated in the Ashland letter, so authorities say they believe the letter was authentic, although the handwriting on the letter and the Bowie card did not match. Investigators theorize that the sniper could have written the messages with different hands, or that he might have an accomplice. Sources would not say where the second tarot card was found.
Meanwhile, details about the attacker's possible motivation continued to emerge. Sources said the sniper's letters contained angry references to his failed attempts to alert authorities to his identity in calls to a FBI tip line.
In a reference contained in the Ashland letter, the sniper identified an "FBI cadet" as having hung up on him when he called a toll-free tip hotline, one law enforcement official said. At least five other times, according to a source with knowledge of the sniper's letters, the attacker is believed to have called the tip line and identified himself as "God."
The sniper's letters angrily cast those answering the tip line as incompetent.
Law enforcement sources said they also believe they have talked directly with the sniper at least twice. They said he has used a voice-altering device, which made it difficult to understand him. At one point, Moose asked the sniper, via television, to call authorities again.
The demand for money and the use of a voice-altering device add several details that investigators hope to use to flesh out their emerging silhouette of the killer, say experts who specialize in studying serial murderers.
He is sophisticated enough to use the devices and understand wire transfers but seemingly unaware that the account covering the stolen Visa card would be closed and unable to accept an electronic transfer.
"That fits with the profile of a sociopath: He's smart, but not as smart as he thinks," says Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the University of California-San Bernardino.
Contributing: Contributing: Toni Locy, Kevin Johnson, Jack Kelley, Laura Parker, Richard Willling and wire reports
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