From my local newspaper's website:
Tacoma Search Said Related to Sniper
By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer
KENSINGTON, Md. (AP) _ The search for the sniper stalking the suburbs of the nation's capital stretched across the country Wednesday as FBI agents converged on a home in Tacoma, Wash., with metal detectors and chain saws.
The agents, acting on information from the sniper task force, were seeking evidence related to ammunition, a senior law enforcement official in Washington, D.C., said on condition of anonymity.
The development raised hopes that investigators had a lead in the shooting spree that has left 10 people dead and three others critically wounded since Oct. 2. But the source said no arrests were expected soon.
FBI spokesman Ray Lauer in nearby Seattle confirmed the FBI search in Tacoma but refused to say why.
The back yard of the duplex was divided into grids, and agents swept metal detectors back and forth over the ground. Other crews used chain saws to remove a stump from the yard and load it onto a truck.
Neighbors said the search had been going on for much of the day. The source said the warrant was executed with the property owner's consent.
Meanwhile, worried parents across the Washington area sent their children off to school with extra-tight hugs, defying the sniper's warning that children are not safe "anywhere, at any time." Thousands of others kept their kids at home.
As expected, investigators confirmed that a bus driver shot to death on Tuesday was the sniper's 13th victim in the three-week rampage.
They also urged immigrants to come forward with any information without fear of deportation, and the governor raised the possibility of posting National Guardsman at Maryland polls on Nov. 5 unless the killer is caught.
Ballistics and other evidence connected the slaying of Conrad Johnson, 35, to the sniper, said Michael Bouchard of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Investigators waited three days to reveal the threat against children, which was contained in a letter found after a shooting Saturday in Ashland, Va.
Bouchard insisted vital information was not being withheld.
"We're all parents and are certainly concerned about the safety of our kids and of our co-workers," he said. He said if information is released too early, "it inhibits our ability to do the job we need to be doing."
For the first time in three days, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose did not issue a public statement to the sniper. A news briefing was scheduled, then abruptly canceled just before word leaked of the search in Washington state.
"The investigation has taken us down different avenues and roads that we need to explore," police spokeswoman Capt. Nancy C. Demme said without elaboration.
Earlier this week, Moose had implored the sniper to contact authorities and continue a dialogue, and he suggested police were having trouble complying with undisclosed demands.
The latest message believed to be from the killer was a letter found not far from where the bus driver was slain, two law enforcement sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The message reportedly demands $10 million _ the same request sources say was made in Saturday's letter.
Tensions remained high. Authorities briefly shut down an interstate northwest of Washington after a report that men in a white truck had pointed a gun at a school bus. Police said they could not confirm whether the driver actually saw a gun.
Officials urged witnesses to come forward without fear of getting in trouble because of their immigration status. On Monday, police detained two men for questioning in the case and later turned them over to federal authorities for deportation.
"We just have concerns that some people in the immigrant community didn't come forward," Moose said.
Meanwhile, schools across the region reported below-average attendance Wednesday.
There was no bus service for 3,800 special education students in Washington, and the overall attendance rate was just 75 percent, down 10 percent. In Prince George's County, Md., attendance was about 91 percent, down 4 percent from an average day.
In Montgomery County, where the shootings began and where Johnson was slain Tuesday, attendance dropped to 89 percent. Attendance had been running about 95 percent, even as the school district joined others in "code blue" security status _ meaning no outdoor activities or field trips.
"I'm not afraid of the sniper," said 17-year-old Heather Willson, a senior at Albert Einstein High School. "My school's fairly closed in, and we're pretty good at our code blue. I mean, I don't see any reason why he's going to change his tactics now and come inside and start shooting up students."
Schools in the Richmond, Va., area opened Wednesday for the first time this week, but attendance was lighter than usual.
Kim Arthur decided to walk 8-year-old son Stephen to John M. Gandy Elementary School in Ashland, Va.. "We can't keep our kids from doing what they usually do," Arthur said. "That would scare them even more."
At Rock View Elementary in Kensington, physical education teacher Terry Dorfman stood on the sidewalk, swinging his arm like a traffic cop to urge children to move quickly inside.
"Now he's starting to talk about kids, and the targets are schools," Dorfman said as he patted children on the shoulder. "And it's a teacher's job to protect the kids."
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EDITOR'S NOTE _ Allen G. Breed is the AP's Southeast regional writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press writers John Solomon and Stephen Manning contributed to this report.
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