Police linked a sixth death yesterday to the coldblooded sniper killings of five Maryland residents – while the manhunt continued for the psycho marksman and an accomplice.
Police said they were searching for both the shooter and his driver in the suburban shootings while investigating whether a seventh attack yesterday was part of the same terrifying murder spree.
The sixth victim, Pascal Charlot, a 72-year-old Haitian immigrant, was killed by a single shot Thursday night as he walked along a busy street in Washington – just one block from the Maryland state line.
Federal investigators connected the D.C. shooting to the other five through bullet fragments from the scene.
The first five victims died within five miles of one another in Montgomery County, Md., during the 16-hour span Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
All six of the now-linked victims were gunned down in public places.
Police said they are looking to see if a seventh shooting – this one occurring yesterday afternoon – is part of the spree.
In that shooting, a 43-year-old woman was hit in the lower back and critically injured as she loaded packages into a minivan in a bustling shopping mall in Spotsylvania, Va., 50 miles south of the other shootings.
The attack was apparently random, with the sniper firing only once from a considerable distance with no warning, no known motive and no witnesses.
Montgomery police were dispatched to Spotsylvania to investigate if indeed the sniper from the other six shootings had struck again.
“We are approaching it with that in mind,” Montgomery Police Chief Charles Moose said. “Certainly, some things look like it may be the case.”
The shooting took place in front of a Michael’s Arts and Crafts shop – a sister store to the one in Maryland, where the shooting spree began Wednesday night with a single shot fired through a window. It was the only sniper’s bullet not to hit a person.
The Virginia woman, who was not identified, told police she did not see her attacker before his bullet ripped into her back.
Cops were stopping vehicles similar to the one sought in Maryland – a white cargo van with a dented rear lift gate and small black lettering on the side. Police recovered a shell casing at the Spotsylvania scene and forensics experts are looking to see if it similar to the bullet fragments found in the other six victims.
Police said wounds found in all of the victims and the Virginia woman indicated they were hit from a distance, very likely with .223-caliber bullets from a high-powered hunting rifle.
A Montgomery detective said investigators believe that the killer has some military training.
1. 5:20 p.m. Wed. Window shot out at Michael’s Craft Store; no injuries.
2. 6:04 p.m. Wed. james Martin, 55, of Silver Spring, Md., fatally shot in the parking lot of Shoppers Food Warehouse.
3. 7:41 a.m. Thursday. James Buchanan, 39, of Arlington, Va., fatally shot mowing grass near a shopping mall.
4. 8:10 a.m. Thursday. Prenkumar Walekar, 54, of Olney, Md., an Indian cabby, fatally shot at Mobil station.
5. 8:37 a.m. Thursday. Sarah Ramos, 34, of Silver Spring, Md., fatally shot outside the Post Office.
6. 9:51 a.m. Thursday. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, of Silver Spring, Md., fatally shot while at Shell Station.
7. 9:15 p.m. Thursday. Pascal Charlot, 72, fatally shot on a busy street in Washington, D.C. – one block from the Montgomery County line.
8. 2:30 p.m. Friday. Unidentified woman, 43, critically injured in front of Michael’s Craft Store in Spotsylvania, Va.