White minivan towed away; not known if linked to sniper
RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) --Police converged on a gas station Monday morning where a white minivan was parked at a phone booth and took one person into custody.
The incident follows the shooting of a 37-year-old man Saturday night in nearby Ashland that investigators suspect may be linked to the Washington-area sniper attacks.
One witness, R.E. Dotson, identified the vehicle as a Plymouth Voyager and said it had a temporary Virginia license tag, but no state inspection sticker. Another witness, Keith Underwood, said the man did not put up a struggle after officers got him out of the vehicle, which was then towed away.
It was not known whether the man is connected to the sniper shootings, which have killed nine people and wounded at least two since October 2.
Investigators probing the Saturday night shooting, in which a man was shot as he walked across a restaurant parking lot, found a letter in the woods behind the restaurant, sources said. It was the first communication police have found in their investigation since October 7 when a Tarot card was found near the scene of a shooting at a middle school in Bowie, Maryland.
A source close to the investigation said the letter included "significant content," but would not say how many pages it was or whether it was handwritten or typed. Investigators hoped it would provide an opening to engage in dialogue with the shooter.
"We are going to respond to a message which we have received. We will respond later. We are preparing our response at this time," said Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose, speaking at a Monday news conference.
Sunday night, Moose made an appeal to the person who left the letter.
"To the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa last night, you gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided," he said.
Saturday's shooting took place outside a Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, about 15 miles north of Richmond and 90 miles south of Washington.
According to sources, the person Moose referred to is believed to be the shooter, not a witness or someone otherwise involved in the case. Moose asked the media to carry his statement "clearly" and often. He did not take any questions or elaborate.
The Montgomery County Police Department is the lead agency in the sniper investigation because the first five shootings occurred there.
The victim was in critical but guarded condition at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond after doctors operated a second time. Other operations are likely. (Full story)
"He's had a good night," trauma surgeon Dr. Rao Ivatury said Monday. "My best hope is that he's going to be OK."
The man's wife, who was walking with him when he was shot, released a statement thanking the hospital and its staff for its work and the community for their support. She asked people to continue to pray for her husband.
"Please pray also for the attacker, and that no one else is hurt," the statement said in part.
If the Saturday shooting is confirmed as the work of the sniper, it would be the first attack since October 14 and the first on a weekend.
A state official said police were seeking two witnesses to the shooting -- a man at a service station across the street and another man who entered the restaurant just before the shooting.
More school closings
The shootings have prompted a wave of concern and stepped-up security throughout the Washington region -- including, with Saturday's shooting, the Richmond area.
Public school superintendents in Richmond and Chesterfield, Goochland, Henrico and Hanover counties closed their schools Monday, and encouraged other districts to follow suit. They also urged parents to monitor their children's activities and routines.
Police described the man who was shot Saturday night and his wife as out-of-towners who had pulled off the highway "to get gas and something to eat."
As they walked through the dimly lit parking lot, the woman heard a noise she thought was a car backfiring, officials said. "About that time her husband declared he had been shot and went to his knees," said Col. Stuart Cook, sheriff of Hanover County, Virginia.
Doctors were able to recover the slug from the man, which investigators are studying to see if it was fired by the same gun used in the previous attacks.
"We are acting as if it is," Cook said Sunday. "We'll continue along that mode until it's proved that it is not."
In other developments
Funeral services were scheduled Monday for the victim of the last shooting definitively linked to the sniper. Linda Franklin, 47, an FBI intelligence analyst, was shot to death October 14 in Falls Church, Virginia. Her funeral will be held in Arlington, Virginia. Funerals for two other victims -- Dean Meyers, 53, who was killed October 9 at a gas station in Manassas, Virginia, and Pascal Charlot, 72, shot October 3 in Washington -- were held Saturday.
The man charged with giving false information to police after Franklin's shooting is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Fairfax County, Virginia. Matthew Dowdy, 37, claimed to have seen a man with a gun just before the shooting and also told police he saw a cream-colored van with a malfunctioning taillight. If convicted, he faces up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Results of a forensics test conducted on a white box truck seized Friday could be released as early as Monday, said authorities. Investigators searched the truck and examined a shell casing found in the back, but one source said the truck was "not a high priority."
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