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Westvirginia deaths same weapon { August 21 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3318657 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3318657 West Virginia Sniper Deaths by Same Weapon Thu August 21, 2003 07:14 PM ET CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - Authorities hunting a possible serial sniper in West Virginia said on Thursday that all three people gunned down last week were killed by the same weapon. The killings have evoked memories of last year's Washington-area sniper shootings that left 10 people dead and three wounded before the two males accused in the spree were caught. Forensic tests of bullet fragments retrieved from the scene of the first murder on Aug. 10 showed that 44-year-old victim Gary Carrier died from a single bullet fired by the same gun that killed a man and a woman four days later. "This is a significant development. It's exactly why the Charleston police asked for assistance," said Patrick Berarducci, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Law enforcement authorities are being helped by investigators who probed the Washington-area sniper case. Police have long suspected that the three West Virginia victims were killed by a .22 caliber rifle. But up to now, forensic tests had shown only that the same weapon was used to kill two of the three victims -- Jeanie Patton and Okey Meadows. Patton, 31, and Meadows, 26, both of Campbells Creek, West Virginia, were killed Aug. 14 at two different small convenience stores in rural communities near Charleston. An emergency task force of local, state and federal authorities has been investigating a possible drug connection in those two cases after speaking to Campbells Creek residents including the relative of one of the victims. Investigators are searching for a dark-colored pickup truck, possibly a Ford F-150, which witnesses say they saw at the scene of two fatal convenience store shootings on Aug. 14 with a large white man behind the wheel. Late on Wednesday, a 16-year-old girl told police she heard a bullet whiz past her head at a gas-station convenience store outside Charleston. A Kanawha County sheriff's deputy later spotted a pickup truck speeding down a nearby highway and gave chase but lost sight of the vehicle. Police said later that they were unable to find evidence of any shot being fired at the girl. The girl's report surfaced amid signs of discord between Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker and other top officials of the investigating task force, which includes Charleston police, state police, the FBI, ATF, federal marshals and the U.S. Secret Service. Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley announced on Thursday that task force officials would no longer join the sheriff's daily media updates unless there were new developments to report. The daily updates have at times offered the news media speculative and conflicting information. "Some people feel like they know best," one member of the task force said. "We will say what we feel is right, when we feel it is right."

Another sniper wva Fourth possible shooting probed Westvirginia deaths same weapon { August 21 2003 } Files Listed: 3

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