Police Refocusing Falls Church Shooting Investigation
Sniper Could Have Struck From Across The Street
POSTED: 7:00 p.m. EDT October 17, 2002
UPDATED: 9:35 p.m. EDT October 17, 2002
FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Fairfax County, Va., police are refocusing their investigation of the fatal shooting that occurred Monday night in the parking garage of a Home Depot store near Falls Church, Va.
Police are keeping open the option that the shot that killed Linda Franklin Monday night was fired from a further distance than witnesses originally led them to believe.
NEWS4's Chris Gordon reports it now appears the sniper may not have been inside garage after all. The sniper may have fired the single shot from across U.S. Route 50 in a school parking lot.
The Wilson School -- where adults go to learn English -- is about 100 yards away from the shooting scene across the street. Police say the sniper would have had the cover of darkness in the parking lot that is not gated.
Also, NEWS4 reports the sniper could have had an easy escape from that location because it led to neighborhood streets that travel into Arlington County. Thus, the sniper could have avoided using U.S. Route 50 or any major roadways that were blocked by police. Police say those neighborhood streets were not blocked by police for 45 minutes.
More than 60 Fairfax County police recruits returned to the scene Thursday to search for a bullet casing or any other evidence. After the morning English class were dismissed, police checked students' tires to see if they picked up a bullet casing.
At a noon press conference in Rockville, Md., members of the task force investigating the sniper attacks said a witness to Monday's sniper shooting may have lied to police about seeing the killer take aim at a woman in the Home Depot parking garage.
Fairfax County police Officer Julie Hersey told NEWS4 Thursday's search "has nothing to do with what the witness' statements [said]." She also said "this is what we would do in an investigation like this. We would just cover everything, there's no sense in limiting our search to a certain area ... it just makes sense to spread out a little bit."
Police surveyed the Home Depot parking garage to plot angles and distances to map the scene of the shooting.
Flowers were left as a memorial at the front entrance of the store. Most of them were later sent to family.
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Police are keeping open the option that the shot that killed Linda Franklin Monday night was fired from a further distance than witnesses originally led them to believe.
NEWS4's Chris Gordon reports it now appears the sniper may not have been inside garage after all. The sniper may have fired the single shot from across U.S. Route 50 in a school parking lot.
The Wilson School -- where adults go to learn English -- is about 100 yards away from the shooting scene across the street. Police say the sniper would have had the cover of darkness in the parking lot that is not gated.
Also, NEWS4 reports the sniper could have had an easy escape from that location because it led to neighborhood streets that travel into Arlington County. Thus, the sniper could have avoided using U.S. Route 50 or any major roadways that were blocked by police. Police say those neighborhood streets were not blocked by police for 45 minutes.
More than 60 Fairfax County police recruits returned to the scene Thursday to search for a bullet casing or any other evidence. After the morning English class were dismissed, police checked students' tires to see if they picked up a bullet casing.
At a noon press conference in Rockville, Md., members of the task force investigating the sniper attacks said a witness to Monday's sniper shooting may have lied to police about seeing the killer take aim at a woman in the Home Depot parking garage.
Fairfax County police Officer Julie Hersey told NEWS4 Thursday's search "has nothing to do with what the witness' statements [said]." She also said "this is what we would do in an investigation like this. We would just cover everything, there's no sense in limiting our search to a certain area ... it just makes sense to spread out a little bit."
Police surveyed the Home Depot parking garage to plot angles and distances to map the scene of the shooting.
Flowers were left as a memorial at the front entrance of the store. Most of them were later sent to family.Copyright 2002 by nbc4.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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