Woman Killed in Virginia Shooting - The 9th Fatal Sniper AttackOctober 15, 2002
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The Beltway Sniper has struck again, killing a woman with one shot in the parking lot of a Falls Church, Va., shopping center.
Ballistics experts have conclusively linked the shooting to the serial killer who has now murdered nine people and wounded two others since Oct. 2, Fairfax County Police Chief Tom Manger said Tuesday morning.
The latest victim was identified as Linda Franklin, 47, from Arlington, Va. She was shot in the head at 9:15 p.m. Monday as she and her husband loaded packages into their car outside a Home Depot at the Seven Corners Shopping Center.
Franklin worked for the FBI, law enforcement sources told Fox News.
Manger said authorities were continuing to look for a cream-colored Chevy Astro van that was spotted leaving the scene of the shooting. The van was missing a left rear tail light and had a silver roof ladder.
Some witnesses were able to provide license plate numbers of vehicles seen leaving the scene, Manger said.
"There was some additional information that we were able to get from last night's case and I am confident that that information is going to lead us to an arrest in the case," he said.
Manger declined to discuss which state the license plates were from or answer questions about whether police had a description of the shooter.
Police closed highways around Falls Church, about 10 miles west of the nation's capital, after the shooting, creating massive gridlock in the area. The highways were reopened in time for rush hour.
"There are a fair number of ways to leave the area," Manger said.
Virginia State Police said the van was last seen traveling east on Route 50 from Falls Church. Interstates 66 and I-95 are nearby.
Witnesses at some of the earlier shootings also reported seeing a white or cream-colored van or truck.
All the other deaths in the sniper spree were also caused by one shot, and two people also were wounded by a single bullet.
Immediately after the Monday night shooting, the victim's body lay under a sheet 30 yards in front of the entrance to Home Depot.
Police were still scouring the parking lot for evidence and interviewing witnesses early Tuesday. There were a number of people in the parking lot when the shooting occurred, Manger said.
"More than anything else, I wished I was outside so I could identify this guy," said one woman who was inside the store at the time of the shooting. "I am used to seeing blood, but this amount of blood shocked me."
The Home Depot is located in the Seven Corners Shopping Center, a 450,000-square-foot strip shopping center with a parking garage.
Monday's killing occurred at one of northern Virginia's busiest intersections, where major arteries come together to form seven corners.
Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., said the location sets the slaying apart from the others.
"This is not bold, this is brazen," he said. "It's a much more highly congested area, even under the cover of darkness."
Kristin Reed, a supervisor at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in the sprawling strip mall, said six employees were locked inside the store for a time with an FBI agent.
"Cops and cops and more cops," Reed said of the scene outside. Shopper Raymond Massas said he "heard one shot. Not very loud, like a snap. After that I heard people start panicking."
"It hasn't been this frightening since 9/11," said Bob Bakley as he stared across Route 50.
Added Abdel Elkheshisn: "We thought, 'It's in Maryland. It's not here, it's far away."
The Monday shooting was the first since Friday morning, when a 53-year-old Philadelphia man was gunned down in Spotsylvania County, Va., as he pumped gas. The killer had gone two straight weekends without an attack.
Earlier Monday, the longest lull yet in the Washington sniper's killing spree brought little relief as jittery residents flooded police with calls upon hearing car backfire, firecrackers or breaking glass.
"Everyone is edgy," said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation. "People are hearing things that may normally be overlooked."
Profilers said a long break could suggest the sniper was trying to outsmart police and change routine.
"Falling into a pattern is falling into a trap," said Robert K. Ressler, a former FBI profiler who helped investigators track killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer. "People this deep into aberrant behavior aren't just going to hang it up and call it quits."
Many schools in the region remained under lockdown Tuesday, meaning outdoor recess and physical education classes were canceled and students were kept indoors all day. One of the sniper's targets was a 13-year-old boy who was wounded outside his school in Maryland.
President Bush said the "cold-blooded" attacks have made him sick to his stomach.
"I weep for those who have lost their loved ones," he said Monday. "The idea of moms taking their kids to school and sheltering them from a potential sniper attack is not the America that I know."
Federal and local investigators have refused to discuss many details of the manhunt, but they have logged some consistencies: the killer favors suburban gas stations; takes down each victim with a single bullet; and, judging from a tarot card left at one of the shootings, appears to enjoy taunting police. The card read: "Dear Policeman, I am God."
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