Sniper's Image Remains Vague

By Carol Morello and Patricia Davis

Vague and inconsistent eyewitness accounts make it impossible to
draw a clear composite of the sniper who killed a woman in Fairfax
County on Monday night, and optimism for an imminent breakthrough
dimmed yesterday with no promising new leads.

Detectives and federal investigators still were hoping that witness
accounts of the most recent shooting would ultimately lead to an
arrest, but they said they still have no solid clue to the identity
of the sniper who has killed nine and wounded two in the Washington
region.

"Unfortunately, because of darkness and distance and perhaps
excitement and adrenaline at the time, we are unable to come up with
a composite," Montgomery County police Capt. Nancy Demme said at
yesterday's only official news briefing on the attacks. "We don't
have a refined description to go by. I know that's not what the
public wants to hear."

Highlighting the often imprecise accounts given to police, one of
the witnesses described the shooter as "not white, not black,"
according to a law enforcement source familiar with the case.

The killing Monday of Linda Franklin, 47, of Arlington outside a
Home Depot store in the Seven Corners area of Fairfax County marked
the first time since the attacks began Oct. 2 that witnesses have
said they saw the firing of the shot. The shopping center was
crowded, and investigators had more witnesses than in the previous
sniper shootings.

Initially, there was optimism that the Seven Corners shooting would
be different from the previous 10 connected to the sniper, in which
witnesses had only a fleeting glimpse of the attacker. But police
said yesterday that descriptions so far have not been of much help.
Some described the shooter as a man with dark skin, others with olive
complexion, of Middle Eastern appearance or Hispanic.

There was one generic consensus: "The only common denominator thus
far is male," Demme said.

One law enforcement source said that investigators know more now
than they did before Monday's shooting, but added, "To the extent we
can't identify him is troublesome."

Other hopes from Monday night also dimmed yesterday. No shell
casing has been found, and surveillance tapes from the shopping
center are of no help at this point, a police source said. License
plate numbers generated Monday night "were not necessarily a vehicle
leaving the scene but driving in the vicinity," Fairfax police Lt.
Amy Lubas said.

Investigators are not even certain how many suspects they are seeking.

"I don't think there's anything really hot anywhere," said one
detective assigned to the regional task force investigating the
shootings. "We're chasing people around all over the place. We're
running the leads we have, and, hopefully, something will come up
that's good. It just seems to me we need more."

A second consecutive day passed yesterday without a shooting, the
first time the sniper has gone two weekdays without an attack since
they began. Nine people have been killed and two have been seriously
wounded while they went about ordinary tasks over the past two weeks.
The shootings have occurred across the region -- in Montgomery,
Prince George's, Spotsylvania, Prince William and Fairfax counties
and in the District.

The 11 victims range in age from 13 to 72. There is no discernible
connection among them -- they are male and female, different races
and different ethnicities.

The sniper has struck morning, noon and night, but his most recent
targets have been near highways. In the last two shootings, police
threw up a massive dragnet that closed roads and snarled traffic for
miles. But each time, the shooter was gone before authorities had
choked off his escape route.

Reflecting the frustration with the reports they have so far
received, Demme delivered suggestions for people in the vicinity of a
shooting. Among them: Duck and seek cover at the sound of gunfire.
Look in the direction of the sound. Make a mental note of the people
or vehicles nearby -- write it down on paper or the palm of your
hand, and don't "contaminate" your memory by comparing notes with
other witnesses or reporters.

Differing, even completely erroneous witness reports are not
unusual, but the sniper shootings are particularly problematic for
eyewitnesses, according to nationally recognized experts in the field.

Gary L. Wells, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University
in Ames and an expert on eyewitness accounts, said a sniper who
shoots from a distance does not even draw the attention of many
witnesses.