Archive through October 21, 2002
TV ClubHouse: Archive: Beltway Sniper (formerly 5 Shootings...):
Archive through October 21, 2002
Whowhere | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:20 am     Everything is crossed - including my eyes and legs. |
Twinkie | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:34 am     Kaili, I've thought for about a week that this guy really wanted to get caught. Especially when they got the latest note saying call me and left a phone #. I'm wondering if the # he left was the pay phone at the Exxon station where he was caught since the police were in wait before the white van even got there. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:43 am     Hi all, I live right in the Richmond/Asland area and have been watching all morning on local stations.... lots of speculation but lots of information. Here is what I have gathered since about 8:15 this morning A witness at a car dealership right next to the Exxon station at Parham and Broad Streets in Richmond said there were lots of police around the place. He saw undercover police watching a white van parked right next to a pay phone. It appeared that the man was on the phone with the van running. An undercover car drove past the station and police immediately closed off traffic from the street. Police in unmarked cars and vans proceeded to approach the white van and pull weapons. They tried the doors a couple times with weapons drawn then pulled open the passenger doors and pull out a man. This witness described the man as not white not black but maybe Mexican or hispanic. They put the man on the ground seated, then put him in a police car. Later, after seeing this news report about the van, a woman called the tv station and said she had called 911 this morning at 7 about a van that looked just like the one shown at the Exxon. All area schools closed today - after yesterday saying they would be open, superintendents closed schools last night. Speculation is that police gave them some information to lead them to close the schools. The woman said she didn't hear that school was closed and she drove to school (sounded like she was an employee). When she arrived a white van was sitting at the school with two men (she said asian or latino), and it was suspicious. She called 911 and reported it, then called back when the van left the school heading toward Broad Street on Parham Road (about 1/2 mile from where they intersect). After about 90 minutes from the time the first suspect was taken from the van, police were asking that woman call them and answer some questions. Not too long after that, the news reports said a hispanic man was detained/questioned at a Citgo station directly across from where the Exxon. I have seen conflicting reports as if the person was taken into custody or just questioned, but now that station is closed off and the AFT are going through the trash. Everyone was asked to leave the station, and their cars and get off the property. The van was taken to the Henrico county forensic building and ATF/FBI was on the scene. The supposed suspect was taken down the road to the police headquarters and supposedly news conference about 1pm. Hope this is the guy. I was going to go to Richmond to get pool winterizing supplies this morning. The JoPa place is about 1/2 mile from this Exxon and I would have been going right there to a shopping center had I gone in to town. After the shooting in Ashland (which is even closer to me than the Fredricksburg shootings- 20 miles vs. 40 miles), I decided to stay home today, thank goodness. I live right in a triange where it is about 30 miles to Richmond, 20 to Ashland, and 40 to Fredricksburg. These are the towns where I go and do my shopping. Much too close to home for me! Let's all pray these are the guys!!! |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:52 am     Still unconfirmed reports that two suspects are being qustioned at the Henrico police Headquarters on Parham Road. Lots of security at the Henrico police hq and blocking all the entrances to the government complex leads one to believe that this is a serious thing. Now news reporters calling the van cream colored that was taken from the Exxon instead of white. The Command post is moving from the Exxon to the Headquarters to accomodate much more press. Hundreds of reporters and producers are now at the scene, press conference is supposed to be at about 1pm. The Ashland shooting victim has been upgraded to critical/stable condition. Serious but he is stabilizing. MCV officials are encouraged. Follow up surgeries will be necessary but if he continues improving they may be able to wait a couple of days for those surgeries. The bullet was removed and has presumably been sent to FBI. |
Whowhere | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:57 am     Thanks for the info Aware. I sincerely appreciate it!! |
Jo_5329 | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 08:59 am     From what I am getting from the news websites, only one person was detained .... |
Whowhere | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:03 am     CNN says two...... http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/10/21/sniper.shootings/index.html |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:07 am     The local NBC station had their traffic helicopter up in the air doing morning traffic so they had good pictures not too long after the man was taken out of the van. The van was parked right up next to the phone. The van was a regular van with passenger and back windows (not a conversion van) and a small roof rack but not a ladder rack. It looked white to me. They said it had temporary Virginia tags (the paper kind that are on newly bought vehicles). Everyone on all three local stations now reporting two suspects but they all mention CNN and MSNBC, so not sure. The employee at the citgo station said that the man was questioned and let go. Other witnesses said a Hispanic man was taken into custody by police from the Citgo. Now it is being reported that the police were staking out this Exxon station, which seems confirmed by the employees in the area who report undercover police all around the station with binoculars etc. I really hope this is the guy!!! |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:14 am     No one has any confirmation on any of this stuff- at least they are admitting it. Most of what they are saying is assumption. One local ABC reporter said the clerk at the Citgo told him that police approached a hispanic man at the Citgo and talked to him, then he came in to use the phone. He was told he couldn't use the phone,but as he was leaving the station he was put in handcuffs and questioned by police again. According to the clerk they talked to him and then let him go a second time. That whole station is a crime scene now, supposedly police and ATF guys on the roof and all over the place. |
Car54 | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:19 am     Aware, I am so glad you stayed home today. Keep it coming..you are really a huge help posting this. I have the radio on in my office but have not heard much but the bare facts so far. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:19 am     A car dealer next door to the Exxon said the van had 30 day tags, and a sticker that said "Three Amigos" dealership. He didn't recognize that name, but said that someone told him that is a northern virginia/DC car dealership. He said it had a hispanic flag sticker on the car. Could be that the guy traded in his other reconizable van for a different but still kind of non-descript model. Who knows? |
Cricket | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:23 am     Thank you so much Awareinva for all this local information. Great reporting. Fox News just reported 2 people in custody also. From what I heard last night, it appeared more than just a phone number was written in the note to the police. I wonder if there is any chance the person identified as Latino/Hispanic could be Middle Eastern. They are also reporting the Van has a temporary VA license plate. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:23 am     Thanks Car. I tell you I was hesitant to put my child on the bus this morning. We live in Louisa County and the schools were open today. We are very rural and off the beaten track (not on the I-95 corridor) but still I was nervous. This is much too close to home for me. I shop in Richmond all the time and this intersection is in the West End where I always go. That in combination with the shooting last week at the Fredricksburg station at Massaponnax where my husband works makes it much too real for me. Just biding time til this press conference- hope they give us the news we all want to hear! |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:27 am     Cricket, I thought the same thing. My family lived in Saudi Arabia for a number of years so I can easily recognize people of Middle Eastern descent. But here in VA, many people are very insular and have never even left the state. My husband has now been across the US due to my influence, but until we married had never been past Florida on the east coast. The lady who made the 911 call said the men were asian or hispancic- big difference to many people, but here in central Virginia we really don't have a lot of racial/ethnic diversity and many people just identify "different". |
Tester | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:31 am     Here is some info from MSNBC that may have some relationship to this craziness. If this is the guy, lets hope they have him in their net. \Alert out for AWOL marksman |
Twinkie | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:35 am     Aware, "cream color" was the description given by the guy arrested for false info that was INSIDE the Home Depot at the time of that shooting and didn't see a thing. The van taken in today was indeed white. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:38 am     Yeah, Twinkie.... I thought unless my eyes were decieving me that van sure as heck looked white. It was raining most of the morning and some of the pictures were a little blurry, but it sure looked white. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:45 am     Tester, I hope against hope that the response from Chief Moose was just a "CYA" kind of move in case the Henrico police didn't get him. There is so much conflicting information coming out- The woman caller said that the van on tv shown at the Exxon was the exact same van she had called 911 about.... well, maybe it was (it was in the area), but she had no way of knowing from seeing a picture from a helicopter that this was the same van with two people in it that she had seen earlier. Then the local NBC news reporter started saying that the woman saw the van drive to the Exxon.... the woman said it drove that direction but there is no way unless she is Superman with x-ray vision that she would have seen the van drive into a gas station over 1/2 mile away! So I wonder how much of this is rampant speculation created by news reporters who are trying to fill over 4 hours of air time and are speculating way too much. |
Jo_5329 | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:52 am     Some more info from MSNBC News website .... "Keith Underwood, a witness to the police operation, told MSNBC Cable that police appeared to have been staking out the gas station from his business across the street and then swooped down on the van, tugging on the door until it opened and apprehending the driver, apparently without much of a struggle." |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:52 am     Now reporters are saying that the note found at the Ashland shooting made a demand for money and that the contact this morning at the Richmond Exxon involved this contact in some way. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:55 am     Van was a plymouth voyager. RE: The sticker that said Three Amigos - it has locations in Texas and California says a local reporter; reporters have noticed a lot of activity shifting to the public police headquarters/government in Henrico from the Exxon scene. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 09:58 am     Funny, now the local NBC station is pulling back from the rampant speculation that this is indeed part of the DC sniper case (probably due to David Bloom's source?). They are saying things like this may not even be related, we need to wait and see if this is just someone who got caught up in the wrong place, wrong time. ABC and CBS still very much saying it is related and reporting the above stuff about the note found in Ashland. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 10:03 am     CBS saying that gas station was staked out, caller wasn't on the phone long enough to trace. That it was interesting on the heels of Chief Moose's reference to waiting for your call yesterday. They seem to be doing a lot of speculating. ABC discussing that this location is not good for staying away from police- police hq is just a 1/2 mile away, FBI headquarters is less than a mile down Parham road. But also there is lots of traffic activity and easy access to the interstate, especially at rush hour in the morning. |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 10:05 am     One of the two suspects being questioned is a 24 year old Mexican citizen reports the local CBS station. Everyone waiting for the press conference that was scheduled for 1pm - running late. Now CBS reporter saying three tidbits have come to their information: there was a ransom demand a 24 year old mexican in custody possible copycat situation has been anticipated and this is being speculated about now Plus the "three amigos" dealership has a virginia office Now office announced five minutes to press conference |
Awareinva | Monday, October 21, 2002 - 10:17 am     Col. Cook, Henrico police, confirms Ashland shooting is a DC sniper case 2 male subjects taken into custody at Parham and Broad this morning investigation is continuing and no other details at this time Richmond/Henrico police are working with Maryland officials They are pressing forward with resources and understand concerns of all citizens They will keep people informed as they can, no further info These two people are being questioned in regards to the sniper shootings- after reporter's questions Reporter asked should citizens feel confidence based on having two in custody-- he says they have not been charged but are being questioned reporters asked have police searched van-- part of ongoing situation and he won't comment reporter questioned were schools closed due to information from police and the note- superintendent closed due to reasons given (parental concern was the primary reason the school officials gave for closing school, but wouldn't comment on if they got any hints from police about shutting down) |
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