Steve Quayle News Alerts

October 10, 2002

MANASSAS, Va. — Police across the Washington metropolitan area were scrambling Thursday morning to determine whether the suburban sniper had struck again.

A 53-year-old man, identified as Dean Harold Meyers of Gaithersburg, Md., was shot dead at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday night at a gas station near Manassas, Va., about 30 miles west of the District.

Sgt. Kim Chinn of the Prince William County, Va., police told reporters Thursday morning that a white panel van, possible a commercial-version Dodge Caravan, was seen driving away after the shooting.

Chinn could not confirm reports of two men in the van, as reported by Virginia State Police Wednesday night.

Montgomery County, Md., police chief Charles Moose said earlier Thursday that the murder at the gas station "looks like" the other shooting scenes, but added that not enough evidence had been gathered to conclusively link the slaying to the other attacks.

Six people have been killed, and two injured, in the wave of sniper shootings that began last week in Montgomery County and spread to Virginia and Washington itself. Sightings of a white van or truck have been linked to several of the crimes.

A joint-agency tip line -- (888) 324-9800 -- was set up for anyone with information to call. A $237,000 reward has been posted for help in solving the attacks.

The Manassas victim, who was traveling alone, had just finished paying for gas when he was shot, Prince William County police chief Charlie Deane said early Thursday.

Moose told reporters that a man taken into custody Wednesday in Montgomery County did not appear to have anything to do with the shootings.

Police were called to a house after the man's mother said he had fired a weapon inside. Moose said several weapons were taken from the house for testing, and the man was taken to a mental-health treatment center.

A tarot card with the words "Dear policeman, I am God" was found near a shell casing outside the middle school in Bowie, Md., where a 13-year-old boy was wounded Monday, a source familiar with the investigation said on the condition of anonymity.

Maryland investigators went to the scene of Wednesday's killing because of similarities with the previous shootings, and Virginia police were sharing information with them.

A Maryland witness told police he saw two men in a white truck or van leaving the scene of an earlier shooting outside a post office. Two of the Maryland shootings were at gas stations.

"Everything is very similar," Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan said. "Let's hope this is not it."

The shell recovered in the school shooting was a .223-caliber, the same kind of bullet that authorities believe was used in the earlier shootings. It was the first casing found since the slayings began Oct. 9.

Michael Bouchard, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, would not say whether authorities had linked the casing to the attacks.

Moose wouldn't comment Wednesday when asked about the tarot card, and angrily suggested unapproved information had been leaked.

"I need to make sure I don't do anything to hinder our ability to bring this person or these people into custody," Moose said.

All the victims have been felled by a single bullet. Investigators say the sniper, or snipers, fired from a distance with a high-powered hunting or military-style rifle.

The wounded boy, whom police have not identified, remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday. Ballistics tests found that the bullet that struck him was of the same caliber as those that killed some of the others and wounded a woman in Virginia. That woman was released from the hospital Tuesday.

The "I am God" message left on the tarot card called the Death card was first reported by WUSA-TV and then by The Washington Post. Police sources told the newspaper the items were found 150 yards from the school in a wooded area on matted grass, suggesting the gunman had lain in wait.

The Post on Thursday reported that the tarot card also contained a handwritten request from the sniper that it not be revealed to the media. Sources said some detectives had hoped that if they honored the request, the sniper might communicate with investigators again.

Tarot cards, used mainly for fortunetelling, are believed to have been introduced into western Europe by Gypsies in the 15th century. Many tarot enthusiasts say the Death card usually does not connote physical death, but instead portrays a symbolic change or transformation.

Crime experts, while noting that the link between the card and the sniper remained unconfirmed, recalled other serial killers who left "calling cards."

One of the most notorious was David Berkowitz, who killed six people in New York in 1976-77.

Robert K. Ressler, a former FBI profiler, interviewed Berkowitz after his arrest.

"He said this was a stimulating thing for him to see the letters in the paper," Ressler said. "Even though he's the only one who knows, notoriety becomes very satisfying to an inadequate loser. It's a way of imposing power and control over society."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65299,00.html