Ohio Officials Have Linked Another Shooting to Mysterious Spree Near Columbus
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ohio officials have linked another shooting to the mysterious spree near Columbus, which started, of course, last May. A woman who was riding in a car on an interstate, 270, was killed last week, the first casualty in the shootings. Authorities now believe the same gun was used in 12 shootings, the latest one at an empty elementary school.</s>CHIEF DEP. STEVE MARTIN, FRANKLIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: And a recently submitted bullet fragment taken from a shooting incident at Hamilton Township Central Elementary School, 1105 Rathmill Road, Columbus, on November 11, 2003, has now been positively linked to the weapon used to kill Mrs. Knisley. It should be noted the incident at the school occurred on Veterans Day morning at approximately 1:35 a.m. Obviously, no children or employees were present at this time of the shooting.</s>COOPER: Joining us now from Columbus to discuss the shootings, Bruce Cadwallader, senior police reporter at "The Columbus Dispatch." Bruce, thanks for being with us this morning. Let's talk about this incident at the school at like 1:00 a.m. in the morning. What's known about it? It seems very odd.</s>BRUCE CADWALLADER, SENIOR POLICE REPORTER, "THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH": Yes. The bullet actually entered a couple door jams and set off an alarm, which alerted police and school authorities. This investigation took a dramatic turn yesterday when we realized that this gunman now has turned his attention off the freeway and they're finding other bullet fragments to link to him.</s>COOPER: Is it known with the school shooting that -- was the shot from outside the building entering the building? Or was there someone inside the building?</s>CADWALLADER: No, it was a shot outside the building. It crashed through a window. It's a one story brick building. And it struck a door frame and shattered the glass. They were even out last night with flashlights looking for any kind of evidence, shell casings that might have been left behind by the gunman, even though it's certainly been almost a month since that shooting.</s>COOPER: I know police have been getting a lot of tips called into them, I think some 500 or so tips thus far. We're not sure if there are really any solid leads at this point. Do the police -- or have they said anything about whether they think the shooter or shooters is using a car or is stationary? Is anything known about what their M.O. might be?</s>CADWALLADER: Yes. I spoke to a high level source just before I went on air. They still don't know a lot about this person, whether he's in the grass, from a moving car, could it be a juvenile who's doing this for kicks. We also had another development overnight, Anderson, of a shooting on the Ohio Turnpike, where a driver and a passenger were wounded by gunfire and they are investigating that as a possible link to these shootings. But it's very preliminary yet.</s>COOPER: Now, that was some, I believe, like 90 miles or so from where most of these other shootings have taken place?</s>CADWALLADER: Right. It's far away from Columbus, but a lot of Columbus motorists are now looking over their shoulder, wondering what's going to happen next.</s>COOPER: They're also starting to release the dates of some of these shootings. Is there any kind of pattern that they can see or that they will publicly talk about?</s>CADWALLADER: No. As a matter of fact, I was thinking this morning, there's very little we know about this gunman. He's hit on multiple days of the week, different times of day. I interviewed one woman who was -- her car was struck in a downpour. So different weather conditions, even. No one has seen this sniper or shooter, whatever you want to call him. And he, as far as we know, he has not contacted authorities.</s>COOPER: Do the police you talk to or any sources you talk to, do they have a sense of whether this person is -- or persons -- are shooting at individuals in cars or whether they're shooting at the cars themselves?</s>CADWALLADER: Well, the experts we've spoken to think that this person is just randomly shooting across the freeway, hoping he hits something.</s>COOPER: I'm interested, you mentioned you talked to some sources. Private -- publicly, police have not used the word sniper. Privately, are they using that word?</s>CADWALLADER: No. They want to avoid that term simply because they think that a sniper connotates someone wearing camouflage gear, laying in wait in the grass. And, again, they don't know if this is a motorist or someone, you know, hiding in a school or even shooting from a housetop.</s>COOPER: There are so many questions still to be answered. Bruce Cadwallader, appreciate you joining us, senior police reporter from "The Columbus Dispatch." Thanks very much, Bruce.</s>CADWALLADER: Thank you. Spree Near Columbus>