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Disguised voice Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/10/22/sniper.shootings/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/10/22/sniper.shootings/index.html
Maryland police investigate new shooting
Source: Sniper called, used voice-disguising device
ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) --Police in Montgomery County, Maryland, were investigating the shooting of a man Tuesday morning, but it was too early to say whether it was connected to the sniper attacks that have left nine dead and three wounded in the Washington area.
The victim was shot in the chest at a bus stop, authorities said. The shooting was reported at 5:56 a.m. EDT in the Aspen Hill neighborhood of Silver Spring, an area close to the scenes of several of the previous sniper attacks.
It wasn't clear whether the man was getting on or off the bus when he was shot. A commuter bus had been pulled over, and some roads were being blocked.
Police in cars and helicopters converged on the scene, which is close to a wooded area. Authorities took the victim to a trauma center.
The first six sniper shootings took place in Montgomery County. No one was injured in the first, when a window was shot out at a Michaels craft store in Aspen Hill on October 2. Five people were subsequently killed in the county October 2 and 3.
Meanwhile, investigators believe the sniper called authorities Monday morning using a voice-disguising device, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
It was that phone call, this source said, that prompted Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose to urge the possible sniper to "call us back."
"The person you called could not hear everything that you said. The audio was unclear, and we want to get it right," Moose said at a news conference.
To members of the news media, Moose said: "If you could carry that message clearly and carry it often, it would be greatly appreciated."
Moose would not elaborate on police attempts to communicate with the sniper, saying to do so "would be inappropriate and detrimental to our investigation." (Full story)
Other developments
•Moose first sought contact Sunday after a handwritten note was found behind the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, where the latest sniper victim was shot Saturday. Moose addressed that plea to "the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa."
•The letter is undergoing analysis at an FBI lab for DNA, handwriting and other details that might help determine who wrote it. Sources said authorities were working under the assumption that it is from the sniper.
•Authorities took two men into custody Monday morning near the area where a tipster's phone call originated in Richmond and questioned them as part of the sniper shootings probe. Federal law enforcement sources said no evidence was found linking either man to the shootings. One of the men was in a white van parked at a pay telephone at an Exxon gas station.
•The shooting Saturday night in Virginia was linked to the other sniper cases after the bullet removed from the victim in surgery Monday morning was taken to a federal laboratory in Maryland for testing. The victim was in critical but stable condition at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.
•The victim's wife issued a statement Monday urging well-wishers to continue praying for her husband as well as "for the attacker and also that no one else is hurt." (Full story)
•Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he did not foresee the FBI taking over the sniper investigation, but he did not rule out the possibility. (Full story)
•Investigators returned Monday night to the site of Franklin's slaying to re-create the sniper attack. Ivestigators placed a tripod with a powerful rifle scope in the place where Franklin's body was found and pointed it across U.S. Highway 50, where police now believe the sniper was when he fired. The purpose of the exercise was to pinpoint the killer's exact location at the time of the attack.
•Public schools in 10 Richmond-area districts will be closed Tuesday, officials announced Monday. They include schools in the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights, and in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, Goochland, Dinwiddie and Prince George. Five of those districts also were shut down Monday -- affecting about 150,000 students -- because of parental and community concern following Saturday's shooting in Ashland, north of Richmond.
-- CNN correspondents Kelli Arena, Jason Carroll, Patty Davis and Jeanne Meserve, and producer Mike Ahlers contributed to this report
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