Police Cannot Develop Composite Sketch
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There are countless leads, and we say countless. We're talking tens of thousands of leads that have come in over the past two weeks. At last count, close to 70,000 to the hot line that the FBI is operating right now, and 15,000 of those came in on Tuesday, the day after Linda Franklin was gunned down at the Home Depot on Monday night. It's been quiet now for the past two-and-a-half days. No incidents to talk of, Carol. That's the good news for the people living around this area. But the bad news again, at this point anyway, it does not appear that investigators are perhaps getting as much information about the shooter on Monday night as they initially had hoped -- things like a composite sketch, eyewitness accounts seem to be not running in parallel at this point. So, certainly the investigation continues. A number of people, we're told anyway, are under surveillance. But what that means is quite unclear. Let's talk about all of those topics now. Patty Davis is back with me again this morning here in Rockville, Maryland to talk, first of all, Patty, about this composite sketch. We thought it may come out yesterday, but they were quite hesitant about it, and indeed it did not. And at this point, it doesn't look like it will.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's a source of great frustration for police, even though they have some of their best witnesses yet in this Home Depot shooting Monday night. They are unable to come up with a composite sketch, because witnesses seem to disagree on exactly what this person looks like. Police say that they do know that it is a man, but that's about all that witnesses can tell them that they agree on.</s>CAPT. NANCY DEMME, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: The issue regarding a composite has come up repeatedly, and at this point, there is not a composite. Fairfax County Police have worked with their witnesses, and unfortunately, because of darkness and distance and perhaps, you know, excitement and adrenaline at the time, they are unable to come up with a composite.</s>DAVIS: Now, police are running license plate numbers. They believe the tag is a Maryland license plate. Investigators have also put a number of people under surveillance, as you said, Bill, although they're saying that these people aren't necessarily suspects. And they're also looking at video from the Home Depot, from surveillance cameras outside other businesses around that Home Depot, as well as video from the dashboard of police cruisers, who were coming onto the scene, perhaps to see if anybody was fleeing. Now going back to the Home Depot where they've got a makeshift memorial set up there for that victim, Linda Franklin, investigators right now saying that that video was inside the Home Depot, and not necessarily outside.</s>HEMMER: So, it's inclusive right now if any of that videotape is going to help in this search right now.</s>DAVIS: Yes, we just don't know, Bill.</s>HEMMER: And one thing we heard yesterday from the police here in Rockville, Maryland, it is an ongoing education system for the police and the FBI trying to educate the public as to what to look for, if they see anything, what to record in their own minds. What was the advice given out yesterday</s>DAVIS: Well, it's not only a learning experience for the police, because they've never seen a serial sniper/killer quite like this, but also for witnesses. Not everybody you expect in your lifetime to be a witness to a crime. And they were giving out basically witness 101 yesterday. They were telling people, you need to -- first of all, your safety has to come first. You get down, take cover, but listen and look where that shot came from. Then, they were saying, take down some characteristics if you see a person -- their complexion, their height, their build. Also, if they have a car -- the make and the model, specifically. A lot of other things like hair color, color of car, et cetera, could change. And then, have a pen with you, write it down. If you don't have a piece of paper, write it on your hand. And don't talk to anybody else until you've talked to police, not even to other witnesses, because it could contaminate what you know. They were giving witness 101 out here, because they're so frustrated that these witnesses just can't come together on what they know.</s>HEMMER: Keep your story clean, I think is what they were saying yesterday. The other thing I thought was quite interesting, don't point out things like the clothing they're wearing. Figure out the physical build of a person, how tall, how much do they weigh -- characteristics like that. And at this point, all we know is that person was -- I think the quote yesterday was, "He is not white and he is not black."</s>DAVIS: Right. And there were some witnesses who were saying they saw an "olive-skinned man," but police are saying that's even in question now. So, they want people to really be trained to know what to look for.</s>HEMMER: Right.</s>DAVIS: Just like a policeman would.</s>HEMMER: You got it. Patty, thanks. Patty Davis working the scene here in Rockville, Maryland. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.