The shooting death of a bus driver in suburban Maryland was the work of a sniper who has now killed 10 people in attacks that have terrorized the Washington area for three weeks.
"The shooting in Montgomery County yesterday ... is linked to the other shootings in Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Spotsylvania County, Fairfax County, Prince William County and Hanover County, Virginia," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose told a news briefing.
Three people have also been critically wounded in the sniper attacks that began in the Washington area on October 3rd.
In the latest shooting, Montgomery County bus driver Mr Conrad Johnson (35) was hit with a single bullet yesterday as he was about to begin work. He died later in surgery.
The sniper left a new letter close to where Mr Johnson was shot. The letter, described as "multi-page," was left at the scene in Montgomery County, Maryland and repeated the same demands the sniper made in a letter he left at the scene of his latest confirmed shooting in Ashland, southern Virginia, the Baltimore Sunsaid quoting law enforcement sources.
The sniper has been in contact with police for some time apparently since he began his shooting spree October 2nd in Montgomery County.
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Police Chief Moose, who
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Nine deaths and three injuries in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia have been confirmed to have been caused by the same gun used by the sniper since he began his murder spree.
In his first letter, left outside an Ashland restaurant where a 37-year old man was shot in the abdomen, the sniper demanded a ransom of $10 million, reprimanded police for failing to respond to half a dozen calls of his, and threatened to kill children.
The first letter reportedly told residents that their children were not safe "anywhere, at any time".
According to law enforcement sources quoted in today's Washington Post, that letter was three pages long, handwritten, wrapped in plastic and tacked to a tree.
In angry tones, the sniper complained that police dispatchers had ignored half a dozen of his calls, branding them as "incompetent," and adding that "five people had to die" because of the bungling.
The letter gave a deadline of Monday for $10 million to be deposited in a bank account, according to several sources who have seen photocopies of the letter, the newspaper said.
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