THE US: Police hunting a sniper who has killed six people at random and wounded two others in Washington's suburbs said yesterday they were no closer to finding the shooter who has panicked the US capital.
"I would like to think I have got the words to keep people calm, but I'm not sure I do," said the Montgomery County Police Chief, Mr Charles Moose. "I have never been able to know exactly when we will be able to bring this to closure."
Local schools opened under heavy police protection the day after a 13-year-old boy was critically wounded while entering his school, just moments after leaving his aunt's car.
Authorities had encouraged parents to bring their children back to school yesterday because they might be safer inside the buildings than elsewhere. Pupils are not allowed outdoors during the day, and all afternoon activities like sports have been cancelled.
Since last Wednesday a sniper using a rifle has killed six people and wounded two others in the normally sedate suburbs around the US capital. There is no sign that the victims, aged 13 to 72, knew each other, but ballistics evidence has connected the crimes.
The Governor of Maryland, Mr Parris Glendening, described the shootings as "a horrible, horrible series of crimes" and urged the assailant to surrender to police.
"We are talking about a person here who is basically a coward. This is an individual who is shooting elderly men, women and children. It is time for this person to turn themselves in, and stop this insane killing," he said.
"We have had eight shootings, six deaths, two injuries, four jurisdictions. This is almost unprecedented . . . We are not going to allow one individual to disrupt our education, to disrupt our lives, to disrupt our economy."
Mr Moose said he had little advice for residents rattled by the shootings, which have taken place in the daytime and in busy, public places. Many of the victims were going about routine tasks like mowing the lawn, buying gasoline, buying groceries and vacuuming a car.
"The question of how to avoid becoming a target is very complex," Mr Moose told reporters. "We don't know that we have that answer. We are asking for people to look for things that may be out of place."
The teenager from Prince George's County, a neighborhood adjacent to Washington DC, remained in critical condition yesterday after surgery at the Children's National Medical Centre. Doctors said the bullet shattered inside the boy's torso, damaging his spleen, stomach, pancreas, lung and diaphragm.
Police said the weapon used in the shootings, probably an assault rifle or hunting rifle, was accurate up to 730 yards. - (Reuters)