The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 21, 2002, Page 4, Image 4
PHOTO BY KEN CEDNO/ KRT CAMPUSl
A white sheet, lower left, shields the body of a woman who was shot In the head in the
parking lot of a Home Depot on Monday night In Falls Church, Va. Officials have connected
the killing to the string of murders In the Washington, D.C., area attributed to a sniper.
Sniper
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
sponsible for the Washington
area shootings.
Investigators who combed the
area outside the Ponderosa fin
ished their search Sunday but
said little about what, if any
thing, they had found.
Some witnesses said they
heard a shot coming from a
wooded area near the restaurant,
but nobody reported seeing the
shooter.
If the shooting is linked to the
sniper attacks, it would be the
first weekend attack and the far
thest the sniper has traveled -
about 85 miles south of
Washington.
The longest previous distance
from the Washington area was
Spotsylvania County, about 50
miles south of Washington. It
would also break the longest lull
between shootings, about five
days.
Former FBI profiler Clinton
Van Zandt said Saturday's shoot
ing, if related, could show the
killer's approach is changing in
response to law enforcement tac
tics. For instance, reports last
week that military surveillance
planes would be used in the
Washington suburbs probably
prompted the sniper to move far
' ther away, he said.
And since much had been
made about the weekend lulls, "I
think he reacted to that," Van
Zandt said.
The most recent confirmed
sniper attack was the Monday
night slaying of FBI analyst
Linda Franklin outside a Home
Depot store in Falls Church, Va.
Residents were on edge in
Ashland, a town of about 6,500.
At the Virginia Center Commons
mall, about seven miles from the
shooting, a normally busy food
court sat half-empty Sunday.
Shopper Nancy Elrod said she al
most had beendoo afraid to come.
"We certainly felt sorry about
all the people up north who were
nervous and now it's down here
and we're nervous too," said
Elrod, 45.
Police said the victim of
Saturday's shooting, whose name
was not released, and his wife
were traveling and stopped in
. Ashland for gas and food. His
wife told authorities the shot
sounded like a car backfiring and
said her husband took about
three steps before collapsing.
The victim underwent
surgery for three hours Saturday
night at Medical College of
Virginia Hospitals in Richmond,
Lepley said.
Doctors had to remove part of
the man's stomach, half of his
pancreas and his spleen, said Dr.
Rao Ivatury, the hospital's direc
tor of trauma and critical care.
The man was conscious but un
able to talk because he was on a
ventilator.
"The prognosis is still guard
ed, but since he is a very healthy
man and he is very young, the
chances are fair to good, I would
say,” Ivatury said.
Authorities in Maryland,
meanwhile, continued testing a
shell casing found in a white
rental truck to determine if it
could be linked to the sniper at
tacks. Police said it would be at
least Monday before they could
announce whether the casing is
connected to the shootings.
A source close to the investi
gation, however, said Sunday
that "it has nothing to do with
this case." The source, speaking
on condition of anonymity,
would not confirm reports that
the shell was .30-caliber, a differ
ent size from the sniper's bullets,
but said: "It's got caliber prob
lems, it's got age problems."
The shell casing was found in
a car seized at a rental agency
near Dulles International
Airport in Virginia, authorities
said.
AP Writer Stephen Manning
in Rockville, Md., contributed to
this report.
STATE
S.C. Supreme Court
to rule on bar hours
CHARLESTON (AP) - The
state Supreme Court will take
last call for Charleston’s bars
when it hears oral arguments
Wednesday in a case over who
gets to decide when liquor-sell
ing businesses have to call it a
night.
The earlier closing time took
effect in early 2001, but a lower
court sided with the bars several
months later, ruling that the
state, not municipalities, has the
right to regulate bars’ hours.
The city appealed, and now
the case goes to the Supreme
Court.
While awaiting the high
court’s ruling, the city’s bars
have returned to serving spirits
past the 2 a.m. deadline, but say
they never have recovered from
the brief prohibition.
State law allows bars to re
main open and serve beer and
wine 24 hours a day during the
week. Hours are restricted on
weekends to limit alcohol sales
on Sundays.
Man hunting for
sniper is arrested
FLORENCE (AP) - A Laurens
man who claimed he was on his
way to Washington, D.C., to
hunt down the area’s deadly
sniper has been charged with
possession of unlawful weapons.
James S. Bloodworth, 50, was
overheard by employees in a
fast-food restaurant here saying
he was going to capture the gun
man, said Florence County
Sheriffs Capt. Todd Tucker.
“The statements (Bloodworth)
made obviously alarmed the staff
members, who in turn notified the
sheriffs office,” Tucker said.
When deputies responded to
the McDonald’s at Interstate 95
and state Highway 327, they said
they found Bloodworth locked
in the cab of his pickup truck.
After coaxing the man out,
deputies said they found four
guns in a search of the truck.
NATION
Pentagon will train
Saddam’s enemies
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Pentagon will train thousands
of opponents of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein to help in a pos
sible invasion, under an order
signed by President Bush, U.S.
officials said Saturday.
Former Iraqi military offi
cials are among more than 1,000
men the Defense Department al
ready has vetted for training in
combat and other skills, said the
officials, who spoke on condition
of anonymity.
The Pentagon also is looking
at the names of more possible re
cruits, all recommended by the
Iraqi National Congress, a
London-based group of exiled op
ponents to the government that
Bush wants to overthrow.
The first phase of training
could begin next month under a
presidential directive Bush
signed this month, allowing the
Pentagon to use $92 million for
the program, the officials said.
White House and Pentagon
spokesmen declined comment.
Bush says he has not definite
ly decided to use military force
to achieve his goal of “regime
change” in Iraq.
D.C. police charged
with illegal search
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
American Civil Liberties Union
has filed an improper search
lawsuit against the Washington,
D.C., police department on be
half of Mitchell Fernandors, a
D.C. resident who is accusing
police of violating him during a
routine body search in which an
officer allegedly used his hand
to examine the Fernandors’ rec
tal region.
The type of search is com
mon, according to Arthur
Spitzer, the legal director of the
ACLU in the national area.
Fernandors contacted the agen
cy believing it was wrong, and
“after checking with a number
of people [the ACLU] concluded
it was a problem,” Spitzer said.
WORLD
Bomb in Philippines
goes off near shrine
ZAMBOANGA, PHILIPPINES
(AP) - A bomb on a parked bicy
cle exploded near a crowded
Roman Catholic shrine Sunday in
the southern Philippines, killing
a soldier and injuring 18 people. It
was the fifth bombing this month.
The blast demolished stalls
selling food, candles and other re
ligious items outside the histori
cal site of Fort Pilar in
Zamboanga, a predominantly
Christian port city about 530
miles south of Manila. The
ground was splattered with blood.
Zamboanga was the target of
twin blasts that tore through two
department stores last week.
Investigators have yet to find or
arrest those behind those explo
sions, which killed seven people
and injured more than 150.
Sunday’s bomb was con
cealed in either a box or a tin
can and placed on a bicycle, wit
nesses said. The bicycle was
parked near a gate to Fort Pilar -
a complex that includes centu
ry-old remains of a Spanish fort,
a shrine to the Virgin Mary and
an open-air worship area where
Mass is celebrated.
Saddam clears out
prisons across Iraq
CAIRO, EGYPT (AP) - Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein
reached out to his people Sunday,
issuing a decree meant to empty
his jails of everyone from pick
pockets to political prisoners.
Inmates were seen streaming
out of Iraqi prisons carrying
their belongings in plastic shop
ping bags and some chanting:
“We sacrifice our blood and souls
for Saddam.”
U.S. officials dismissed it as a
ploy to rally domestic and inter
national support.
“They better watch out where
the next door is that puts them
right back in jail. I mean, this is
typical of this man’s use of hu
man beings for these political
purposes of his,” Secretary of
State Colin Powell said Sunday.
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